Every organization has a process that "just works". Look closely and you will usually find one person behind it: a senior engineer, a long-serving coordinator, the colleague everybody messages when something breaks.
That is fine until the day they go on leave, change roles or resign. Then the process stops working, and nobody can say why.
Start with observation, not interviews alone
People rarely describe their own work accurately. The steps they skip when explaining are often the ones that matter most. The best documentation comes from sitting with experts, watching how work actually gets done, and then asking about the decisions behind each step.
Write for the person who will use it
A good standard operating procedure has step-by-step instructions, clear roles and the decision points where judgment is needed. It is written in plain language and structured for quick reference, so it gets used rather than filed.
Keep it alive
Documentation goes stale quickly. Version control and regular review cycles keep it accurate, so your documents never fall out of date.
If you are not sure which processes depend on a single person, that is a good place to begin. Ask your team: what would we struggle to do if one person were away for a month?
Key takeaways
- Look for processes that depend on a single person.
- Observe the work, then ask about the decisions behind each step.
- Write plain-language procedures and review them on a regular cycle.
