Hand Off a Whole Job with Cowork · Lesson 2 of 6

Write a hand-off brief

15 minutes. One page that tells Claude what "done" looks like, so it does the job once instead of five times.

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Think about the last time you handed work to a new hire and it came back wrong. Usually the person wasn't the problem. The note was. "Can you pull together the numbers for Ray?" leaves a hundred questions open. Which numbers? Which month? In what form? By when? Can I change the spreadsheet?

Cowork has the same problem, only faster. A vague request gets a confident, polished result that answers a slightly different question. A clear brief gets the job you meant.

The good news: you only write a brief once per job. Next month, you reuse it and change the date.

Every brief in this course has the same five parts. Open the Hand-Off Brief template and follow along.

1. Goal: what done looks like

One or two sentences. Who is it for, and what will they do with it?

> A one-page monthly service report for Ray, the owner, so he can see at a glance whether September was busier or slower than August and why.

Write the reader into the goal. "For Ray, who reads it on his phone" changes the result more than you'd expect.

2. Inputs: what to work from

List every file or folder, by name. Say which ones are the source of truth if two disagree.

> Work only from the files in the folder "Report copies, Sept 2026": calls.xlsx (one row per service call), techs.xlsx (who worked which days), and last month's report, August-report.docx, as an example of the format Ray likes. > If calls.xlsx and techs.xlsx disagree on a date, calls.xlsx is right.

Notice the word copies. Every input in this course is a copy. You'll set that up in Lessons 3 and 5.

3. Format: what to hand back

Be specific about the file type, length, layout and naming.

> One Word document named "Service report, September 2026.docx," saved in the same folder. One page. A three-line summary at the top, a table of calls by type, two charts (calls per week, calls by type), and one short paragraph on what changed from August. Plain, calm language. No adjectives like "amazing" or "record-breaking." > Also save the working spreadsheet, with formulas, as "Service report workings, September 2026.xlsx," so I can check the math.

That last line matters. Asking for the workings is how you check a report later. Anthropic says Cowork can produce Excel spreadsheets with working formulas, so ask for them.

4. Limits: what it may and may not do

This is the part people skip, and the part that saves you. Write down the edges of the job.

> - Work only inside the folder "Report copies, Sept 2026." Don't open, change or move anything else. > - Don't change or delete the input files. Save new files only. > - Don't make up numbers. If a number isn't in the files, leave a blank and write [CHECK: what's missing]. > - Don't include customer names, addresses or phone numbers in the report. > - Don't send, share or upload anything. I'll do that after I review it.

Cowork asks before permanently deleting files by default. Your limits go further. They tell it what's off-limits before it ever has to ask.

5. What to ask about: when to stop and check with you

Tell it which decisions are yours. Otherwise it will make a sensible guess, and you won't know which parts were guesses.

> Before you start, show me your plan in a few steps. > Ask me before you: > - leave out any rows (for example, calls marked "test" or "cancelled") > - group call types differently from last month's report > - write anything about why numbers changed, beyond what's in the files

Asking for the plan first is the cheapest review you'll ever do. Anthropic's getting-started steps include reviewing Claude's approach before letting it run. Thirty seconds reading a plan saves twenty minutes fixing a finished file.

At the bottom of the template there's one more line: How I'll check it. Fill it in before you hand off, not after. If you can't say how you'll check it, the brief isn't finished.

> I'll compare the total calls to the count in calls.xlsx, spot-check five rows by hand, and read the paragraph for anything that isn't in the files.

You have two simple choices.

• Paste it into the message box when you start the Cowork job. Fine for one-off jobs.
• Save it as a file in the job's folder, for example "BRIEF.md" or "Brief.docx," and start the job with: "Read the brief in this folder and do the job it describes." Better for monthly jobs, because the brief sits with the work and you edit it in place.

Anthropic's help page also mentions folder instructions: project context you can add when you pick a local folder, which Claude can update during a session. If you see that option, it's a good home for the parts of your brief that never change, like the limits.

• Write like you're briefing a smart temp on their first day. They're capable. They know nothing about your business.
• Name things exactly. File names, column names, people's names. "The calls sheet" is vague when there are three.
• Give an example of good. Last month's report, a deck you liked, a folder that's already tidy. One example beats a paragraph of description.
• Say what to do when stuck. "Leave a [CHECK] note and keep going" is usually right for reports. "Stop and ask me" is right for anything that changes files.
• Keep it to one page. If it's longer, it's probably two jobs.

• Open the Hand-Off Brief for your first job (the report, if you picked one).
• Fill in all five parts, plus "How I'll check it."
• Read it out loud as if you were the new hire. Circle every word that could mean two things. Fix them.
• Do a quick draft of the other two briefs. Goal and inputs are enough for now. You'll finish them in Lessons 4 and 5.

Check it worked

• Your first brief fits on one page and has all six lines filled in.
• Every input is a named file or folder, and every one is a copy.
• The limits include at least: which folder, don't change the inputs, don't invent numbers, don't send anything.
• The brief asks for a plan before work starts.
• A coworker could read it and know exactly what you want.

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Next: hand off job one and watch it work.

→ Lesson 3: Job one: a monthly report from spreadsheets

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