TAKEOVER READINESS GAP
Being there is taken for being ready.
01 DEFINITION
Condition in which the transfer of work is arranged around the moment one person arrives rather than the moment they have understood what they are receiving, so readiness is inferred from presence.
02 CONDITIONS
UNCERTAINTY
MISSING
What the receiver has understood is not part of what the handover records.
TIME PRESSURE
SHORT
The moment is scheduled and both parties want it over.
ERROR ASYMMETRY
ASYMMETRIC
Handing over too early and holding on too long are answered for differently.
OPERATOR STATE
DEDICATED
Both people are at the handover and it is the whole of what they are doing.
03 WHERE IT APPEARS
MEDICALA handover is complete when the incoming clinician is present, not when they have understood.
ENERGYA desk changes hands at the scheduled minute regardless of what is in progress.
MANUFACTURINGA shift starts when the next operator arrives at the station.
LOGISTICSControl of a movement passes at a time agreed in advance of the movement.
PUBLIC SERVICEA case transfers on reassignment rather than on the new officer having read it.
MOBILITYControl returns to a person on their being in position rather than on their being oriented.
04 WHERE THIS IS SURFACING
This surfaces wherever shifts are scheduled and understanding is not. The clock says the handover happened; nothing says it landed.
The question it keeps returning to is what would show readiness rather than arrival — asking the receiver to demonstrate it makes the handover a test at the point both parties want it finished, and asking nothing makes arrival the whole of it.