Coverage
27 articles on coverage. Page 1 of 2.
Coming Back From Leave: A 60 Minute Order of Operations
Do not start with the inbox. Decisions made in your absence, then open questions, then what is due this week. Inbox last, newest first, mostly archived.
An Absence Coverage Plan for a Team of Six
A coverage plan lists who decides, who answers, and what stops. In a team of six there is no bench, so name the gap rather than pretending it is covered.
Parental Leave Handover: The Last Four Weeks and the First Two
Split the role rather than assigning it, run a swap week where cover works alone, and agree the contact rule in writing before leave starts.
Who Decides While You Are Away: The Decision List You Write Before Leaving
Sort every decision into what waits, what a named person decides, and what needs you. Write the limit and the fallback. It takes about forty minutes.
How to Hand Off Your Work Before Vacation (Without Being Messaged Anyway)
Handover documents fail because they describe your work. Write the questions people will ask instead, name an owner per area, and say what has no cover.
Knowledge Transfer Before Someone Leaves Is Too Late by the Time It Starts
Two weeks cannot transfer two years. Triage the fortnight: reasoning, relationships, dead ends. What survives is what was written down along the way.
Key Person Dependency: How to Find It Before It Finds You
Key person dependency is about who gets asked, not who has the title. Find it with a one week question log, then three fixes in the order that pays back.
Reducing Dependency on the One Person Everyone Asks
The person everyone asks is a queue with one server and no hours. What it costs, and why they cannot fix it themselves.
Out-of-Office Messages That Answer Instead of Apologise
Four out-of-office examples you can copy, three rules for writing them, five mistakes to avoid, and the version that is not an auto-reply at all.
Out-of-Office Replies Apologise. Here Is the Alternative.
An out-of-office is an automated apology for a delay. Better wording does not change the category.
Unplanned Absence: the Day Someone Does Not Log On
You cannot write a handover for an absence you did not know about. What helps is what was written yesterday.
Keeping Delivery Moving When the Delivery Lead Is Out
The plan does not stop existing when the lead is away, it stops being retrievable. Cover the project rather than the person.
Taking a Real Holiday as a Manager (the Team Survives)
Managers check messages because they are the decision route, and checking is what causes the messages.
Parental Leave Handover for a Lead Role: Three Months of Context in One Place
Three months is not a long holiday. Name an interim owner eight weeks out, transfer judgement by doing, and keep the record answerable while the person is away.
A Coverage Plan for a Twelve-Person Team (Template)
Five columns on one screen: person, area, where questions go first, who decides, and their limit. Plus the column most plans miss.
When the Person Who Knows Everything Is on Leave
"Ask her when she is back" defers a fortnight of work one item at a time. Sort what waits: most of it is retrieval, not judgement.
Covering for Someone on Leave Without the Backup Doing Two Jobs
Naming a backup usually means one person holds two workloads. Split it: the backup handles decisions, the record handles questions.
The Vacation Handover That Means Nobody Messages You at the Beach
A handover stops the questions it anticipated. Four sections, one page, explicit decision limits, and a record that can answer the question you did not predict.
The Vacation You Half Took, and Why It Repeats
Checked Slack all through your last vacation? Why the half-vacation repeats every year, and what has to change so you can fully log off.
The Person Is the Silo, and Docs Did Not Fix It
Knowledge silos on remote teams are people, not folders. Why docs did not fix it, and what lets knowledge answer while someone is away.
Finding the One Person Who Knows, in Under a Day
A step-by-step way to find the one subject matter expert who knows, in under a day, without interrupting half the company to get there.
Week One at a Big Company: Finding Who Answers What
Starting a new job at a big company? How to find who actually answers what, and why finding the right person is the real first-week blocker.
What a Quick Question Costs the Person You Asked
A quick question costs the coworker their focus, not just seconds. What interruptions really cost, and how to lower the bill without going silent.
The One Person Who Knows, and the Risk Nobody Names
When one person is the only one who knows, you carry a risk nobody names. What bus factor one really costs, and how to lower the number.
Your team’s week, answered from the work.
If this is your team’s week, see what a StandIn does with it.