A vacation handovernobody has to call you about.

It's a short note you leave before time off, parental leave or a role change. It tells whoever covers for you what's in progress, what's waiting on someone else, which decisions to hold, who to ask and where everything lives. A good one lets your backup answer questions without messaging you.

Your dates and the day you're back, who covers and how to reach them, and every project that will move while you're out, with its status and next step. Add what you're waiting on, the meetings and reports someone else runs or skips, decisions to hold until you're back, who to ask about what, and links to the docs and boards. The template at the top of this page has a field for each.

Start the document about a week before a one-week vacation and two to three weeks before parental leave or a sabbatical. Walk your backup through it two or three days before your last day, so there's still time to answer their questions. Then update it on your last afternoon.

Usually one page for a week off. If it's much longer, it's probably documentation that should live somewhere permanent, with the handover linking to it. The handover itself should say what's different this week.

Someone who's in for your whole trip and knows enough of the work to make small calls. Check the team calendar before you ask, because a backup who's out for part of your vacation leaves a gap. For a long absence, split the work between two or three people by project.

The out-of-office message is for people outside your team: it says you're away, when you're back and who to contact. The handover is for your backup: it gives them what they need to actually do the work. You need both, and our out-of-office generator writes the auto-reply.

Decide before you leave and write it in the handover. Fully offline, urgent calls only, or a quick look at Slack once a day are all fine, as long as your team knows which one it is. A clear handover is what makes going offline possible.

Use the same structure, with more time: start a month ahead, split your work between several people, and write down the decisions that will come up while you're gone. Add your expected return date and who your manager is, and agree who updates the handover if your leave starts early.