data.day
handoffs / client-success / accountability / process-failure

Case: Client Escalation Because 'Someone Thought Someone Else Was Doing It'

The most dangerous place in your company is the space between two departments. Here is how we fixed the 'I thought you had it' error with a visible baton pass.

Marta Clarity Marta Clarity

The Space Between Teams is a Black Hole

I audited a workflow last week where a $50,000 contract sat unsigned for 10 days.

Why? Because Sales moved the deal to “Closed Won” in the CRM, but Customer Success didn’t get the ping. Sales assumed the automated email went out. Success assumed the contract wasn’t ready.

They were both right. They were both wrong. And the company lost money.

The Chaos: Implicit Handoffs

The enemy here is Assumption. In many teams, work is “thrown over the wall.” You finish your part, you throw it to the next department, and you wash your hands of it.

But you didn’t check if they caught it.

  • The Gap: Sales works in HubSpot. Ops works in Jira. Finance works in QuickBooks.
  • The Silence: When a task moves from System A to System B, there is often a “Silent Zone.” This is where tasks die.

We cannot rely on “I thought you knew.” We need positive confirmation.

[Image of a relay race baton pass dropping to the ground between two runners]

The System: The Baton Pass Protocol

I fixed this by implementing a Binary Handshake. This is a rule I stole from TCP/IP networking: A packet is not received until the receiver sends an acknowledgement (ACK).

Here is the protocol we built in their project management tool:

1. The Trigger (The Push)

Sales does not just change a status. They must fill out a Handoff Ticket.

  • Mandatory Field: “Who is catching this?” (Must tag a specific human, not a generic team).
  • Mandatory Field: “Is the file attached?” (Yes/No).

2. The Acceptance (The ACK)

The ticket does not close when Sales sends it. It stays in a status called “Pending Acceptance.”

  • The Rule: The clock is ticking. The receiver (Ops) has 4 hours to click “Accept.”
  • The Accountability: Until Ops clicks “Accept,” the ticket still belongs to Sales. If it explodes, it is on Sales for not ensuring the handoff landed.

3. The Automation (The Nudge)

I built a simple flow in Power Automate:

  • If Status is “Pending Acceptance” for > 4 hours,
  • Then Post a message in the #managers channel: “Warning: Deal X is stuck in limbo between Sales and Ops.”

The Result

We made the invisible work visible.

  • Before: “I thought they had it.” (Blame shifting).
  • After: “The ticket is still in my name; I need to get them to accept it.” (Ownership).

You are not done when you send the email. You are done when they reply “Got it.”

Clear is kind. Silence is a risk.

FAQs

Why can't we just talk to each other?

Because conversations evaporate. Tickets do not. Relying on verbal handoffs is negligence.

Does every task need a formal handoff?

No. But any task that crosses a department line does. That is the danger zone.

What if the receiver refuses the work?

Good. That is a signal. Better to refuse it immediately than to let it rot in the inbox for a week.