Follow The Sun Success: Handovers

According to Wikipedia, Follow-the-Sun, is a type of global workflow in which tasks are passed around daily between work site that are many time zones apart. The idea behind follow-the-sun is that work will never stop.

Though evidence suggests that Follow-the-Sun Software Development doesn't work, this is not the case for Production Support. Follow-the-Sun can and does work, if Prod Support teams are willing to implement a few best practices to enable collaboration.

In the shops where I've worked, the most common setup is to cover 12 hours out of AMRS and 12 hours from India. Typically each region has an early (8:00 AM - 5:00 PM) and a late (11:00 PM - 8:00 PM) shift. The shifts are modified for Daylight Saving Time adjustments. Another common setup is to cover 8 hours out of AMRS, 8 hours out of APAC and 8 hours out of EMEA (where there is overalp between the shifts).

The most important process that teams need to implement, is likely the Handover process. During the handover, the accountability for the work transitions from one region to the next. There are two items that make handovers successful, in my experience:

1. Handover E-mails: Handover e-mails should contain information about open Incidents and Service Requests. They should also contain a recap of significant issues that occured during the shift, for example: Major Incidents or preventive restarts of running processes. Handover e-mails ensure that a snapshot of the work being handed off is captured, which provides better insight into accountability.
2. Handover Calls: Handover calls should be short (about 30 minutes) and should be utilized to cover the open tickets being handed off. It is a forum to allow for clarification of what needs to be done. It is NOT a forum that should be used to work on the tickets. Handover calls should start and end on time and should have enough representation for each ticket being handed off. During the handover call, tickets should be reassigned to people in the upcoming shift. At no point should a ticket remained assigned to people in the shift handing off, as accountability is lost and the work won't continue on it until the following day.

Another best practice that enables follow-the-sun success for Prod Support is that of implementing Start and End of Day Healthchecks. At the beginning of the week, a start-of-day check should be carried out to ensure systems are ready to perform business transactions. Then, at the end of each shift, the team receiving the system should carry out health checks to ensure that everything will run smoothly during their time. I find that doing it this way works better (than the team handing over doing them) for two reasons: 1) The team just starting is freshly rested (and isn't ready to run out the door) and 2) The team just starting will have the accountability for any issues (thus they are more invested in things not going wrong).

Start and End of Day Healthchecks should be documented. A summary of the checks performed and the results (perhaps with a Red/Amber/Green status) should be sent out to interested stakeholders to ensure that everyone is aware the system is ready. It's worth noting that healthchecks can be automated. If they are, the team receiving the handover would be responsible for correcting any anomalies the healthchecks might reveal.
Following these simple guidelines is easy and will work wonders in ensuring your Follow-the-Sun success!