So what were those things I did do this time to make it a more mutually effective transition period?

 

• Write a resignation letter / email and have it scheduled to send to your manager during an in-person meeting informing them of your decision. Tell them face-to-face first before having them read a letter.

 

I actually scheduled the email to send at the beginning of the meeting and had them read it while I was there. It was fine, but looking back I would have sent it during the meeting and spoken from my heart for the first bit. Then they get a chance to ask questions / read the email.

 

• During that meeting, talk about timelines for your last day and work backwards from there for things to get done prior to that.

 

For me, when I had this meeting, I had an indefinite timeline of my last day. It was the next week that my behavior and motivation to work had changed quite a bit and we had another meeting to discuss a more definite timeline, which was about 2 weeks from then. In both of those meetings, we discussed what information needed to get from my brain and workspaces into my team’s.

 

• Create a Vendors and Software Google Sheet

 

I created a Google Sheet with the following columns and filled it out as much as I possibly could.

 

• Name

• Contact

• Area / What they do

• How we’ve used them up until now

• Additional context

• Outstanding action items

• Who else can help?

 

This table was one tab of my Sai Transition Doc Google Sheet. I first added things that were most top of mind. Then I went through my sent and received emails to capture any other vendors and software. I added as many notes in each of the columns as I could. The key perspective I had building this was “could someone who had never worked here before understand what I was saying?” If so, then it was effective. The rest of the context can be supplied by others who were there. That’s what that last column achieves. If this sheet doesn’t contain the answer you’re looking for, then there are other people who can help.

 

 

• Create an Important Documents / Links Google Sheet

 

This was the second tab in my Sai Transition Doc Google Sheet. To get these links, I simply went through my Bookmarks, my Google Drive, and my emails. Virtually all the important links that I would access were in one of those three places. The columns for this one are pretty simple. They are:

 

• Link

• Context / Info / Action Items / Who else can help

 

• Create a Responsibilities / Processes Google Sheet

 

I didn’t personally make this part of my transition document, but it was part of a former colleague’s. His position was more operationally focused where daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly things needed to get done in a more standardized manner. That wasn’t as much the case for marketing so I didn’t need to create this. The following were the columns in this sheet.

 

• Responsibility / Process

• Who does it going forward

• Time it takes to complete

• Time frame (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)

 

• Have an HR Meeting

 

They may automatically reach out to you once you resign but you may want to make sure all the details in here are covered before you leave.

 

• Exit Interview

• Insurance

• Tax Information

• Retirement Accounts

• Personal Contact Information

• Shares / Options

 

I answered my exit interview questions as truthfully as possible to help the team out. This is a good way for you to leave on good terms with the company. During that meeting, I was relayed information about how insurance would work, how the retirement accounts would work after the desyncing with my company, how I could access tax information now that I wouldn’t have a work email any more, and ensuring they have the right personal contact information (email, phone, physical address) for any future correspondence. This may not apply for everyone but having a discussion about vesting shares and exercising options would be ideal here.

 

• Finish or transition outstanding projects, tasks, or deadlines before departure

 

This one goes without saying, but I had a few ongoing projects to transition to either my manager or other team members. So have meetings with anyone you need to to make sure things don’t get overlooked during this transition process.

 

• Forward shadow and reverse shadow

 

If you have the time and it’s important enough to the team, I would have the person who’s going to take over shadow you doing the work. Then have them do the work while you shadow to ensure proper procedure. Things can get lost in translation on paper so having person-to-person interaction transitioning something can assist with that.

 

• Email intros and forwards for new points of contact

 

I completed this in tandem with creating the Vendors and Software sheet. Part of the transition is making sure the people you’re in contact with have the right contact info going forward. I sent emails to each of the vendors introducing / informing the new point of contact. I would then add that vendor, their contact info and fill out the rest of the fields in the Vendors Sheet. I also forwarded any email threads that I would refer to to the right person too. I prioritized the ones that the only LaundroLab / 2ULaundry employee was me.

 

• Turn in credit cards and get reimbursement

 

If you have company credit cards, turn them in. Pretty simple. If there has been anything outstanding that you need to get reimbursed for, make sure you do it now or forever hold your peace.

 

• Ensure everything is on company G Drive / OneDrive / Cloud

 

I assume there’s some shared cloud storage place that your team houses documents. I had a tendency to have a lot of things on my personal Google Drive or on my local that others didn’t have access to. So I went through those areas and uploaded everything necessary to our company Google Drive.

 

• Download or note down any resources you may want

 

Unless you know you’re being tracked for downloading something, I would take some of the more important things that you worked on with you. What are those?

 

• Downloading / duplicating files you won’t have access to. Could be on your local drive or on a software platform. I had some personal use assets on Canva (graphic design), LucidChart (flow chart), and Google Slides (presentations) so I went into each of those software and downloaded / duplicated them. I then either put them on a hard drive and / or in the cloud.

• Pictures that you’d like to use in the future, at least of you

• Downloading contacts from your Gmail / Outlook. For this one, I would also connect with them on LinkedIn if you want to stay in touch with them

• Performance reviews that show your growth over time and feedback from your manager

• Personality assessments like Kolbe (could be Enneagrams, Myers Briggs, Strengthsfinders, etc.) that tell you more about yourself

• Emails you’d like to have. I had several emails that I sent or received that I wanted to see in the future. So I forwarded them to my personal email. These were more sentimental in value.

• Bookmark the necessary links that you have through your work email browser on your personal email browser

• Create a list of software you had on your laptop that you like to redownload on your personal laptop if you already haven’t.

• Create a list of newsletters you’re subscribed to that you’d like to resubscribe to with your personal email

 

 

• Update your resume before you leave so you have access to numbers and information

 

One of the main areas for improvement I see in young professionals’ resumes is quantifying your impact. How did the work you did impact the team or company as a whole? You may have been applying to other positions while you’re still at your old job, in which case you have access to certain information that will allow you to quantify your impact. For me, I have been self-employed in my time after leaving 2ULaundry. So there’s no urgent need for a resume refresh. If you fall more in the latter, then I highly recommend you update your resume while you still have access to numbers that you wouldn’t after you left.

 

• Capture the replacing position job req so you have duties of what you did

 

This one is more of a hack for the previous bullet point. But if you’re having a tough time listing out the duties of what you did, then you have a great starting off point in the job description for the position that’s replacing you. Odds are many of the things you did or the company wants in the replacement, they’ll include it in that job description. So use that as a resource.

 

• Give out and ask for LinkedIn recommendations

 

Ask any colleagues or other people you worked with to leave you a LinkedIn recommendation. This will honestly be a true test of if they really liked working with you. You want to capitalize on your time spent at the company. A good tactic here is genuine reciprocation. Write a few recommendations yourself for those people, so it’ll make the ask that much more natural.

 

• Update social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X)

 

Along the same lines as the previous one, you want to make sure all your social media profiles are up to date after you leave. Whether it’s your work experience and skills sections on your LinkedIn or your Facebook / Instagram bios, make sure it’s all up-to-date.

 

• Social media announcement

 

Do this only if you truly feel it from your heart. Don’t make an announcement simply because of the perception you want. I didn’t do it when leaving Capgemini but I did it leaving 2ULaundry. Write how you feel about leaving, thanking the people on your journey, and what you’re off to next.

 

• Clean your desk

 

This is the most basic one but clean out your desk area and any other physical spaces. As I did this for myself, there were things that I needed to transition to someone else because I had held onto them or I knew where certain things were around the office.

 

• Write personalized thank you notes

 

To show my authentic appreciation to my coworkers, I got Thank You cards and wrote each of them a personalized thank you note. It can just be a few sentences but that extra touch goes above and beyond what you need to do. It was in our work culture to have birthday and anniversary cards, and our co-founders would write and give out thank you / holiday cards as well. I wanted to express my individual gratitude to each of the people that made a positive impact in my time there. I left it on each of their desks on my last day. You could also hand deliver them for that extra personal touch. 🙂

 

• Bonus: write out your story so you can look back on it

 

Life goes by so quickly. Details I once knew like the back of my hand will eventually become a faint memory. My chapter at 2U is one that I never want to forget. I spent time recollecting events and feelings from the beginning in October 2019 all the way to the end in June 2023. I then expanded upon each of them to create a story like structure. I will then always have this story to remind me of my time there. I recommend you do this pretty soon after you leave so memories are still fresh. From personal experience, I finished some of the story points 5 months after I left and my memory was already a bit hazier. So do it sooner rather than later!

 

This can seem like a lot, but many of these things you’re probably going to have to do anyways. It’s just spelled out in more detail than any other place.

 

Join the conversation. Any Do’s or Don’ts that I missed?