How Does Hand Off Work

Many parents struggle with how to help their child get ready for school in the morning. More often than not, they end up doing it themselves!

Parents usually start by putting away toys they’re sure their children have already put away. Then comes picking an outfit or getting a new workout shirt, and possibly running some errands if your kid is going there.

After all of that, what happens next varies depending on whether your kids go straight home after school or if they spend the afternoon at the park or off campus activities.

But one thing almost always crosses most parent's minds is leaving the house right?

That's why many schools are now using hand-off apps as another way to ease the stress of getting your kid out the door. Rather than just having them wait to be picked up outside, these apps connect you with a location nearby where you can drop off your child and watch them walk away safely.

Who does the hand off go to?

The second way that handoffs happen is via an internal or external source. This is typically when one person gives up control of their work, product, or service to someone else. For example, if you are working on designing a website and have run out of ideas, you can give up your work and watch it be designed by another professional.

This is called outsourcing- something that more and more companies do as technology makes it possible. By having other people take care of certain tasks for you, you can focus on what you are doing best.

Businesses rely heavily on outsourcing now. Services like Google and Facebook don’t actually buy all the equipment needed to operate their businesses, for instance. Other business owners provide those services free of charge so that the company can make money through advertising and sales.

By offering his or her services to others, professionals gain access to resources they would not otherwise have.

Do I need to tell my colleague about the hand off?

As long as you are using the app securely, there is no requirement for you to notify anyone else of the hand-off. You can keep it private unless you choose to make it public or share with specific people.

There may be times when you will want to let someone use your account so that they can access important information or resources. For example, if your boss gives you permission to log into his/her Microsoft Office 365 account then he/she won’t know you have done this until they check their own accounts.

This could also happen in situations where you work for several different companies and each one has its own internal software that employees must use. It might be easier to give them all access to an external tool like Google Apps instead of requiring individual login credentials for every program.

By granting access through another source, it creates a way for them to still get the needed functionality while keeping everything separate. This is called ‘layering’ security systems — making sure not only that what you do is secure but also how things are protected.

What should I say to my colleague?

It’s very common for employees in any workplace to feel stressed out or overwhelmed by their workload.

In fact, a recent Harvard Business School study found that nearly half of all workers report being “overwhelmed at least some of the time” with too much work.

And while having more responsibilities is sometimes motivating, it can also be stressful if you are not able to effectively manage your time.

That’s why most employers offer an informal hand off system where one employee can pass the responsibility of keeping tabs on certain projects onto another person.

It’s totally up to you whether you choose to take advantage of this feature, but do so responsibly — you don’t want to overextend yourself!

Here’s what you need to know about how hand off works.

How will my colleague know it is me who is taking over?

There are two main ways that hand offs happen. Either you do the work, then someone else takes over or you give up control of your job to another person. The first one is often referred to as passing the torch.

With technology advancing at a lightning speed these days, most professionals have access to the internet from anywhere! This creates an opportunity for people in different positions to collaborate and help each other out.

By sharing knowledge and resources with others, they can achieve their goals more efficiently. It is like having a second in command, only better because they bring additional skills to the table.

In this case, your successor is probably already part of the organization so there are less logistics to worry about.

Does the hand off get transferred to another colleague?

Only when your colleague is doing something related to your work can the transfer occur, such as editing an article or sending you an email. And it has to be someone you have access to the software or website of!

If there’s no one else around that you can ask to help with this task, then you can always just do it yourself but might take longer.

What if I get stuck on something?

That’s okay! The most common way to use hand-off is for someone with no computer access to complete an action for you. For example, let’s say that your job requires you to edit a document but there is no one available to do it for you. You can leave the task in their hands and they will take care of it when they have time.

It’s not exactly like having a personal assistant, but it works well in some situations. In fact, this is how many professionals manage their own work - by delegating tasks to other people or tools.

By using hand off, you are still keeping yourself productive because you assigned the task to another person or tool who would be able to finish it for you.

Who is responsible during a hand off?

The one thing that may trip up some teams is who is accountable for what happens after a handoff. Generally, it goes something like this: the passer hands the ball to another player, then that player runs with it or passes it along to someone else.

The receiver usually gets credit for getting the ball into his body or keeping it from the defenders’ hands, but not always. If he doesn’t do either of those things, it’s easy to blame him.

However, if he does manage to get rid of the ball in the air, that’s when trouble can arise. According to an old NFL rule, if a player receives a direct snap, throws a forward pass, and manages to keep the ball away from the ground, then he is automatically awarded five yards and a touchdown. (This is referred to as the “quick throw” rule.)

That seems pretty generous, right? Well, consider how many times athletes have been credited with throwing a “forward pass” even though they didn’t actually release the ball past their feet. Many times, they just set the ball down instead. Or sometimes they ran with it.

What are the potential consequences of a hand off?

The likelihood of someone getting hurt due to poor execution of this technique is very low, but it does exist. If there’s no one around to take over responsibility for an employee, they may need help finding them or recovering from any injuries that occur.

The main risk comes when your manager has left their job site without telling you. This could happen because they didn’t show up for work, they got fired, or something else caused them to be unable to perform their duties. In these cases, if you're able to locate their mobile device, they can use Handoff to let you take control so you don't have to look for another position right away.