Guide
Write your first Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
Turn a task that only lives in your head into something anyone on the team can follow.
Pick the task you repeat most often
Start with whatever you personally do over and over, opening the shop, onboarding a client, packing an order. The most repeated tasks give you the most time back once written down.
Do the task once while writing down every step
Don't write from memory, actually do the task and narrate what you're doing as you go. You'll catch small steps you'd otherwise forget to mention (like 'unlock the register first').
Number the steps in the exact order you do them
Write in plain, simple sentences: 'Open the POS app. Log in with the shared account. Check the drawer has $100 in float.' Assume the reader has never done this before.
Add photos or screenshots for anything visual
'Click the blue button' is ambiguous. A screenshot with an arrow is not. For physical tasks, a quick phone photo of the correct setup saves paragraphs of description.
Have someone else follow it exactly as written
Hand the SOP to a teammate (or a friend) and watch them try to complete the task using only the document. Every place they get confused or stuck is a gap in the SOP.
Store it somewhere everyone can find it
A shared Google Drive folder or Notion page, organised by department, is enough to start. The best SOP system is the one people actually open, not the fanciest one.
That’s the whole thing.
Keep going
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