Handover: why the client signs off last

Our process has five steps: discovery, proposal, build, staged go-live and handover. Handover is the last one, and it ends with the client's sign-off.

What handover is. It is the point where the work is handed to you. It does not end because we say it is finished. It ends when you sign it off.

Why the sign-off is yours. You are the one the work is for. We can tell you a job is done, but that is our opinion of our own work. Your sign-off is the answer to a different question: is this what you asked for? That question belongs to the person who asked.

What you are signing off. The work was agreed in writing before it began, as a written scope and a written quote. And before handover, each stage went live on its own and was accepted against a check that sits outside the agent, something you can see for yourself, such as a changed file, a delivered message or a confirmation. By the time you are asked to sign off, you are not taking our word for it.

Why it comes last. Handover follows everything else in the process. Discovery, proposal, build and staged go-live all come first, so the sign-off is a decision made once the work can be seen, not before.

What it is not. Handover is not something we declare for you. We do not mark a project complete on our own say-so.

If you have a task in mind, tell us about it.