Project handoff checklist for creative studios

The short answer

Before any handoff, write down five things on the project: what is done and approved, what is open with the notes that go with it, where every current file is, who has access to what, and what money is outstanding. For a handoff inside the team, add the next dates and the client contacts. For the final handoff to the client, add the delivery list, the formats, the usage terms and the date you will archive. Get a reply confirming receipt.

The two kinds of handoff

The internal handoff happens mid-project: an artist goes on holiday, a freelancer's contract ends, a job moves from the person who pitched it to the person who will run it. The risk is that knowledge stays in someone's head.

The client handoff happens at the end: the final files go to the client. The risk is that the job never quite closes, because files are missing, a format was not agreed, or nobody sent the last invoice.

The checklists overlap, and both depend on the same thing: a project where the current state is written down, not remembered.

Internal handoff checklist

Use this when work moves from one person to another while the project is running.

1. State of each deliverable. One line each: approved, in progress, waiting on the client, not started. Include the version number of the latest file.
2. Open notes. Every client note not yet done, against the version it was given for. Notes in an email or a call that never reached the task list are the ones that get lost.
3. Approvals so far. What the client has approved, who approved it and when. The next person needs to know what is locked.
4. Where the files are. The project folder, the naming convention, the latest working file per deliverable, and anything that lives on one person's machine. Move that last category to the shared location before the handoff, not after.
5. Next dates. The next client review, the next internal check, the delivery date.
6. People. The client's decision maker and who else gives notes. Freelancers on the job and what each one is doing.
7. Quirks. The client who prefers calls to email, the render setting that must not change, the asset that is licensed for this job only. Write them down, even if they feel obvious.

Hold a short call to walk through the list. Thirty minutes is usually enough if the list exists. If it does not, the call will take two hours and still miss things.

Freelancer offboarding

When a freelancer finishes their piece, run a short version of the same list. Collect every file into the shared location, with the source files as well as the exports. Confirm the deliverable is approved and record it. Remove their access to shared folders and tools. Ask for their invoice and record the cost on the project. The freelancer onboarding checklist covers the start of the relationship; this is the end of it, and studios skip it more often.

Client handoff checklist

Use this when the finished work goes to the client.

1. Delivery list. Every file the client receives, matched against the deliverables in the quote. If something in the quote is not on the list, find out why before you send.
2. Formats and specs. Resolution, aspect ratios, codecs, colour space, file types, captions. Check each file against the agreed spec, not against the last export you made.
3. Final approval. The written approval of each deliverable, with the version and the date. Keep it on the project.
4. Source files. Whether the client gets them is a contract question. If the contract says they do, include them; if it says they do not, do not send them by accident in a shared folder.
5. Usage and licences. Fonts, music, stock footage, models from asset stores: what the client may and may not do with them. Write it in the delivery email.
6. How the files reach them. A transfer link with an expiry date, a shared folder, a delivery portal. Tell the client when the link expires and ask them to download before then.
7. Final invoice. Send it the day you deliver, not a week later. The guide on how to write an invoice covers what to put on it.
8. Archive date. Tell the client how long you keep the working files. Six or twelve months is common. After that, a re-open is new work.
9. Confirmation. Ask for a reply confirming the files were received and open correctly.

The delivery email

After the handoff

Close the project properly. Mark everything done, record the final costs, compare the hours or days spent against the quote, and write two lines on what went well and what to change next time. Those two lines are the most valuable thing you will read when you quote the next similar job. If the final invoice is not paid on its terms, the payment reminder email has the follow-up.

Doing this in OIO

OIO is project management for small studios, and most of the handoff list is already on the project page if the work ran there. Each deliverable is a ticket with its status, its checklist of open notes, its files and its version history. Approvals sit on the version: OIO keeps who clicked Approve this version and when. The project shows the client, the deadline, the team and the freelancers on their ticket links.

When a freelancer finishes, their files are already on the ticket with the notes they worked from. For the client handoff, OIO's file transfer makes download links that expire after 1, 7 or 30 days. The final invoice comes from the same project, and the budget shows what was quoted against what was invoiced and paid. More on OIO for 3D studios.

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