Free guide
The Hand-Over List
What to hand ChatGPT's Work mode first, how to brief it in four lines, and the two-minute check before anything goes out with your name on it.
Just want the templates? → The kitNo email sign-up. Everything below is free on this page, the same as the other guides.
The idea
There is a switch at the top of ChatGPT now: Chat on one side, Work on the other. Chat answers your question. Work hands you back the finished thing: the summary, the deck, the spreadsheet. It plans the steps, works through them on its own, and comes back with a document.
Most people open Work and type the same thing they would type into Chat. A question. Then they wonder why it is slow and uses up their allowance. So before you type anything in Work, ask one question:
Do I want an answer, or do I want a finished thing? If it's an answer, stay in Chat.
- 1. The hand-over list. Hand over the job you rebuild every month, not your hardest problem.
- 2. The four-line brief. Done, from, shape, for.
- 3. Folder first. Start on the web, with files you would be comfortable emailing to a vendor.
- 4. The two-minute check. Three checks, then it is yours to send.
The four steps
Step 1 picks the job. Step 4 protects your name.
The hand-over list: pick the right first job
The instinct is to hand it your hardest problem: the strategy question, the thing you have been stuck on. That is backwards.
When I got a new analyst, I never gave them the board strategy on day one. I gave them the monthly pack. Same inputs every month, same shape every month, and I was going to read it before it went anywhere anyway. That is the job you delegate first, because you can check it in two minutes.
A job goes on your hand-over list when it passes three questions:
- Same inputs? Does it use the same inputs every time?
- Same shape? Does it come out the same shape every time?
- You review it? Will you read it before anyone else sees it?
Three yeses, it goes on the list. For years, mine was the month-end summary: four weekly updates rolled into one page for the COO. Other common ones: the monthly status pack, the quarterly numbers summary, your 1:1 prep notes.
Your first move: look at your last month. Find the one deliverable you rebuilt from the same inputs, in the same shape, that you checked before it went out. That is your first hand-over.
The four-line brief: done, from, shape, for
A better prompt does not mean a cleverer prompt. It means a clearer hand-over. Every good delegation has four parts: what done looks like, what you are working from, what shape you want it in, and who it is for. Leave one out and you get it back wrong, from a person or from a machine.
Done: a one-page September summary for the COO. From: the four weekly updates attached. Shape: three headline numbers, what changed this month, the top risk, and one chart of on-time delivery by week. For: a COO who reads it on her phone before a Monday meeting.
What came back. I ran it on a ChatGPT Plus account with four invented weekly updates attached. Work showed its plan, ran on its own for a little over two minutes (2 minutes 22 seconds), and handed back a one-page PDF: three headline numbers, a short "what changed" section, the top risk with the decision needed, and a chart of on-time delivery by week. I checked every number against the four updates. All of them matched, and it added nothing that was not in the files.
That is one run, not a promise. Your run will take a different amount of time, and the output can differ each time. That is exactly why step 4 exists.
The rule: write the four lines first. If you can't write them, the job isn't ready to hand over yet.
Folder first: know what it can reach
The worry is that Work can get into everything. On the web, it can't. It works with what you give it.
Think of it like a contractor. On the web, you are handing them a folder across the desk: they only see what is in the folder. The desktop app is giving them a key to the office: they can open your files and use the computer themselves.
- Web and phone: Work uses the files you attach and the apps you choose to connect. It cannot open files on your computer directly.
- Desktop app: adds your computer's own files and the ability to click around for you, with your permission.
- Allowance: longer jobs use more of your plan's allowance. A monthly summary is a better first job than "reorganize my whole drive".
If you are on a work laptop: start on the web, with files you would be comfortable emailing to a vendor, and check your company's policy before you install anything. The key to the office can wait.
The two-minute check: you still sign it
Once it hands back something that looks this finished, the temptation is to send it straight on. Don't. No manager I respected ever forwarded an analyst's pack without reading it. Not because the analyst was bad. Because their name was on it.
- The numbers. Do the headline numbers match the inputs?
- The extras. Is there anything in it that wasn't in the inputs?
- The voice. Does the top risk sound like you, or like a press release?
Work shows you the steps it took, so you can see where every number came from. Two minutes, three checks, then it is yours to send.
The kit: copy, fill in, hand over
Three templates. Keep them in a note and reuse them every month.
MY HAND-OVER LIST Job: [the deliverable, e.g. month-end summary for my boss] [ ] Same inputs every time? ([what they are]) [ ] Same shape every time? ([what it looks like]) [ ] I review it before anyone else sees it? Three yeses = hand it to Work first. Any no = keep it for now, or fix the no (write down the shape, agree the inputs).
Done: [the finished thing, e.g. a one-page summary / a 5-slide deck / a spreadsheet]. From: [the inputs, e.g. the four files attached]. Shape: [what goes in it and in what order, e.g. three headline numbers, what changed, the top risk, one chart]. For: [who reads it, and how, e.g. my director, on her phone, before Monday's meeting].
THE TWO-MINUTE CHECK [ ] The numbers: every headline number matches the inputs. [ ] The extras: nothing in it that wasn't in the inputs. [ ] The voice: the top risk sounds like me, not a press release. All three pass = mine to send.
Where to find Work in ChatGPT
As it looks on the web today, on a paid plan:
- Flip the switch. At the top of ChatGPT, select Work in the Chat / Work switch.
- Attach your inputs. Use the + in the message box to add your files.
- Paste the four lines and send. Work shows its plan and the steps as it goes.
- Open the result. Finished documents open in a panel beside the chat, where you can read and download them.
Use placeholder names if you are testing, and check your company's policy before you upload anything confidential.
Not on ChatGPT? The idea is the hand-over, not the feature. The four-line brief and the two-minute check work with any AI tool that can read your files and hand back a document.
The order
If you only do one thing this week
- Run last month through the hand-over list (pick one job with three yeses)
- Write the four lines for it (done, from, shape, for)
- Hand it to Work on the web (attach the inputs, paste the brief)
- Run the two-minute check (then it is yours to send)
If Work keeps getting your tone wrong, that is a context problem, not a Work problem. The Weekly Update Project sets up a ChatGPT Project that already knows who you are writing for. That guide is here.