In this article
You assign a new project owner, but the client still messages their previous contact. Decisions, exceptions and next steps remain in conversations the incoming colleague has never seen.
An exit checklist can miss the conversation
Access to company email, source code and a task tracker may be removed while the client still uses the same Telegram contact. The new project owner sees tickets but may not know about a clarification, exception or next step agreed in a direct conversation.
A similar gap can appear when an engagement ends and access to a client workspace closes. The next owner may have the task list but no longer be able to find the discussion behind it. A handover needs to cover both access and the working context.
A personal account is not a company account
Before discussing access changes, establish who owns the account and which conversations the company may retain. A personal account can contain unrelated conversations and an individual's professional network. Its use for work does not by itself make all its contents company data.
For a company-owned account, plan who controls the number and recovery settings, which sessions should end and who receives access next. For personal accounts, agree a separate handover of relevant work context. Do not design the process around taking over the person's private messenger.
Give the next owner a usable handover
Identify the permitted project conversations and check that the relevant history is saved. Prepare a brief covering explicit commitments, open questions, recent decisions and the next action. Keep the original messages available so the incoming owner can verify the brief.
An approved AI tool can help draft this from accessible archive data. Ask it to distinguish an agreed commitment from a suggestion and to mark uncertain status. A discussion about sending a document is not evidence that the document was sent.
Change access and the contact path
For the corporate account, carry out the authorized session and recovery changes through the supported account controls. Verify the former operator's access and the incoming operator's access separately. Keeping a saved archive does not itself revoke a Telegram session.
Then make the new contact path explicit to the client: who owns the project, where to send the next message and what remains open. Technical access and a client introduction solve different parts of the handover. Both belong in the procedure.
Make the handover part of the project process
Before the outgoing employee leaves, ask the incoming owner to find the last agreement, list open questions and prepare the next action. Resolve gaps together while the people who remember the conversation are still available.
If the engagement is ending, decide the retention period and how the company will access retained work later. If you need a portable archive, agree its format and test how it opens before closing access to the original workspace.
A question to try with your AI
Replace the fields in brackets with your details.
Prepare a project handover from these permitted conversations. List explicit commitments, recent decisions, unresolved questions and the next responsible action. Identify source messages if available. Separate proposals from agreements and discussion from completed actions. Mark missing history. Do not assume an action was completed without evidence.
Your working checklist
- Account ownership and permitted work history are clear.
- The handover can be checked against original messages.
- Corporate access changes are verified separately.
- The client knows the next responsible person.