A launch checklist you can hand to someone else

A checklist that only works while you are standing next to it is a reminder for yourself, not a checklist. Handover is a writing problem: the person working through it cannot see what you meant, only what you typed. A delegable list states each step as something a stranger can perform, gives it a result they can judge, names the moments where guessing is banned, and separates out the lines that cannot be given away.

Write actions someone could film, not intentions

Most unusable steps fail here. Words like "ensure", "make sure" and "configure properly" describe a state of mind, and a state of mind cannot be handed over. The reader supplies a definition, does something plausible, and moves on. The test is literal: could they point a camera at themselves and record this line being done? "Ensure the mail is working" fails. "Send one message through the contact form to the address in row 4 of the sheet, then open that inbox" passes.

Give every line its own finish test

Handed-over lists rarely stall on difficulty. They stall on doneness: without a stated test, a step gets marked complete merely because it was attempted. Each line needs two halves, the action and the observable result, plus where to look. Keep the test binary. "Looks right" imports your taste, and a line needing your judgment does not belong in the delegated list.

A bad line, rewritten

Before:
  7. Point the domain over and make sure the site is live.

After:
  7. At the registrar, replace both nameserver entries with the
     two values from the handover sheet, row "nameservers". Save.
     Done when: on a device that is not on the office network,
     https://<domain> opens with no certificate warning and the
     page title matches row "home title" character for character.
     If the placeholder page still shows after 60 minutes, STOP
     and message Ayse with a screenshot. Do not alter any other
     registrar setting.

Four things changed. The action names the exact field and where its values live. The test is answerable from outside your network with a yes or a no. The likely failure has a written branch. And the scope fence stops the helpful improvisation that turns a delay into an incident.

Move the knowledge out of your head

Read each line and ask where its values come from. If the honest answer is "I know it", that step is not delegable yet. "The usual settings" and "same as the last one" are the same defect in different clothes. The fix is one companion sheet of named rows, with steps referencing rows rather than values, so a changed account or address means editing a row instead of rewriting steps. That sheet keeps earning its place in running your estate.

Mark the stop points

Some steps are cheap to redo and some are not. Anything that deletes data, spends money, is public the moment it is saved, or that other records already point at, earns an explicit STOP.

• Say what to stop doing, not just "be careful".
• Name one person, and a second if the first is unreachable.
• Say what to send: which screen, which value, which error text.
• Say how long to wait before escalating, so waiting is a decision and not a limbo.

A stop with no named person is not a safeguard, it is a guess with a warning label.

The steps that cannot be delegated

A few lines resist handover however well they are written, because they need authority rather than instructions: credentials tied to your identity, payment approval, sign-off on whether the content is correct, the final go or no-go. Do not disguise these as ordinary steps. Pull them into a short list of your own with a rough duration each, so the handover reads as "your 20 steps, with three appointments where I must be available". Account-level actions only the registered holder can perform belong there too, handled through contact.

Then test the list before you rely on it: hand it to someone with no background and stay quiet. Every question they ask is a defect in a line, not a gap in them. It is ready when a full pass produces no questions and every finish test returns a yes or no. Sequencing is a separate concern, covered in launch playbooks.