The Handoff Problem: Why Work Disappears Between Teams

Most workflows do not fail inside a team.

They fail between teams.

A request is created. Someone does their part. Then work “moves” to the next group.

And that is where it disappears.

This pattern shows up in:

• operations handoffs (frontline → back office)
• support escalations (tier 1 → tier 2)
• finance handoffs (requester → approver → AP)
• revenue handoffs (SDR → AE → CS)

The handoff is not a step. It is a risk surface.

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Pattern 1: The Handoff Has No Contract

Teams assume shared understanding.

But handoffs usually lack a clear contract for:

• what “done” means for the upstream team
• what data must be provided
• what conditions must be true
• what happens when information is missing

So downstream teams spend their time:

• chasing context
• redoing work
• rejecting requests informally

The workflow slows down without anyone being accountable.

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Pattern 2: Ownership Is Unclear at the Boundary

At the handoff boundary, people ask:

• “Is this my job yet?”
• “Who is responsible if this goes wrong?”

When ownership is unclear:

• tasks sit unclaimed
• follow-ups multiply
• leaders intervene manually

The organization becomes dependent on hero behavior.

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Pattern 3: Work Moves Through Side Channels

When the workflow is unclear, people route around it.

They use:

• email
• chat
• spreadsheets
• meetings

That creates two realities:

• the system of record
• the system people actually use

Once the workflow splits, reliability collapses.

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Pattern 4: Exceptions Collapse Into the Handoff

Exceptions often get routed to “the next team” without classification.

Downstream teams receive:

• incomplete requests
• ambiguous edge cases
• issues that need judgment

The handoff becomes the exception queue.

Over time, handoffs become the bottleneck.

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What Reliable Organizations Do

They treat handoffs as first-class workflow steps.

That means:

• define handoff requirements explicitly
• attach required context automatically
• validate inputs before the handoff completes
• route exceptions intentionally
• make ownership and SLAs visible
• ensure the workflow remains the single source of truth

When handoffs become structured, throughput increases and friction drops.

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How This Connects to RoboHen

RoboHen is built to make handoffs explicit:

• workflow logic defines what must be true before work moves
• human steps preserve accountability
• exceptions follow defined paths
• execution state remains visible across teams

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