# You're done when the result is checked
Ownership · diagnostic · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/06-01-done-on-your-side-does-not-mean-solved.html

## The symptom

Your part is finished and passed on. You do not know whether the next person has what they need to carry on.

## The signal

Work finished, handover accepted, result verified: three different moments. Check all three.

## What's going on

"My part is done" is true, and useless if the next step cannot move. The customer sees the result, or its absence.

You prepare the reminders for unpaid invoices. A colleague is to send them. The text is ready, but she has no access to the list of customers concerned. Checking that before you hand over takes two minutes. Finding out a week later costs a week of payments.

Say what is expected, what is missing, and when you will check in. Get a clear "I'm taking it" from the person picking it up.

If nobody can pick it up, tell whoever decides. Do not chase forever, and do not quietly take the task back.

## Check this

For your next handover, write:

> What is finished, and its limits: ...
> What the next step needs, and who accepts it: ...
> Who to warn if it gets stuck: ...

Once the handover is accepted, your commitment is closed. At the next check-in, see whether the information you passed on was enough, and improve the next handover.

## To discuss

On our last handover, who clearly said "I'm taking it"?