Most handovers inventory channels, passwords, files and active tasks. That keeps operations moving, but it does not explain why the homepage says what it says, why an offer was retired or which idea already failed.
Add a decision-history layer so the incoming person can distinguish intentional choices from unattended legacy.
A strong marketing handover transfers the current state, the decisions that created it, the evidence behind those decisions and the open loops that need a future owner.
1. Current marketing state
List the live website, offers, campaigns, lifecycle journeys, audiences, reporting definitions and owners. Mark anything temporary, paused or scheduled to expire.
2. Decisions that shaped the current state
For each high-impact asset, link the most relevant changes and conclusions. Prioritise positioning, pricing, channel strategy, recurring campaign rules, measurement definitions and decisions that may look surprising without context.
3. Open learning loops
Show changes awaiting evidence, experiments still running, results that need interpretation and questions that should not be treated as settled. Include a review date and next owner for every open item.
4. Known constraints and rejected options
Record legal, brand, technical, capacity and commercial constraints. Include options considered and rejected when they are likely to be proposed again. A short reason can save weeks of rediscovery.
5. First decisions for the incoming owner
Name the decisions due in the next 30, 60 and 90 days. Link each one to the relevant evidence and history so the handover leads into action rather than becoming an archive.
Do not hand over a conclusion without its evidence, or evidence without the decision the team made from it.
A compact handover pack
Use four layers: a one-page current-state summary, a searchable decision history, an open-loop queue and links to source systems. The history should be readable without requiring access to every old chat thread.
Clear answers
Frequently asked questions
How much history should a handover include?
Include decisions that still affect current work, explain a constraint, or are likely to recur. Older low-impact activity can remain searchable without appearing in the main handover.
What should an agency hand back to a client?
Transfer live assets, access, measurement definitions, material changes, tested ideas, evidence, unresolved questions and the reasons behind current recommendations.
How do we keep the handover current?
Maintain the decision log during normal work and assign owners and review dates to open changes. The final handover then becomes a filtered view of existing records.
Make this part of the next decision.
Diffined keeps the change, reason, evidence and conclusion together in one private history.
Try the working prototype ↗