How to document a process so someone else can run it

Most small businesses run on routines that exist only in someone's head: how an order is packed, how a quote is prepared, how a delivery is checked. That works until the person is ill, on leave or simply too busy, and then a good routine becomes a series of phone calls. Writing it down is the fix, but a document nobody can follow is no better than none. This checklist takes you from a routine in your head to a page someone else can use. The examples are hypothetical; use your own business for the real thing.

Step 1: Pick one routine. Choose something that happens often and has a clear start and end, such as packing an order, opening the shop or preparing a monthly invoice. A weekly routine gives you feedback faster than one that happens twice a year.

Step 2: Write the purpose and the trigger. One line each. For example: "Purpose: make sure every order leaves complete and undamaged. Starts when: an order is marked paid." This stops people running the routine at the wrong moment, or skipping it.

Step 3: Do it once and write as you go. Do not write from memory at a desk. Do the task yourself, or watch the person who does it, and write each action as it happens. Memory skips the small things, such as the second look at the address label, and those small things are usually what the document is for.

Step 4: Use numbered steps with one action each. "Check the order against the invoice" is a step. "Prepare the order properly" is not. Start each step with a verb, keep it short and follow the order in which things happen.

Step 5: Say what done looks like. "Parcel sealed, label attached, order marked packed, photo saved." A photo of a correct result or a sample invoice helps too. This lets another person judge their own work without asking you.

Step 6: Name the person and the backup. Write who is responsible, who covers when they are away and whom they ask when stuck. A routine with no named owner belongs to nobody.

Step 7: Add the exceptions that have actually happened. The customer who always changes the address, the item that breaks easily, the supplier who delivers late on Fridays. Write them as short notes under the relevant step. You do not need to cover every possibility.

Step 8: Say what the person may decide. This is the step most owners leave out, and it is what stops every question coming back to you. For example: "You may replace a damaged item up to a value we have agreed. Above that, message the owner." Without it, a careful employee asks about everything and a careless one decides everything.

Step 9: Test it on someone who has not done it before. This is the most important step. Give them the document and watch without helping. Every hesitation, question or unexpected action marks a gap. Note it, and resist explaining aloud. If you have to explain, the page is not finished.

Step 10: Fix it and test again. A second test with a different person often catches what the first missed. Two rounds are usually enough for a simple routine.

Step 11: Put it where people will use it. Keep one current copy in a shared folder, a notebook near the work or a pinned message, whichever your team actually opens. Remove old copies and put a version date and an owner on it.

Step 12: Set a review date. A month or three away, ask the people using it what is wrong, missing or no longer true. Customers, suppliers and products change, and a document untouched for a year is usually wrong in places.

Step 13: Hand it over gradually. For the first few runs, watch the new person do it. Then let them do it alone and check the result afterwards. Check the early outputs closely and lighten up as confidence builds.

Common mistakes

Writing too much. A long document nobody reads is worse than a short one everybody uses. If you pass two pages, consider splitting the routine in two.

Writing what should happen instead of what does. If the real routine includes a check you rely on, include it. You can improve the routine later; begin by capturing what works.

Writing it alone. The person who does the work every day remembers details you have forgotten. Involve them, and credit them.

Putting sensitive details in it. Do not put passwords, bank details or customers' personal information into a shared document. Say where to find them or who holds them.

What to do this week

Pick one routine. Write its purpose, trigger and finished state. Do it once and write the steps as you go. Give it to someone who has not done it before, watch what happens and fix the gaps. Put a review date on it. If it works, choose the next routine. In a few months you will have a short set of pages that let the business keep running when you step away from the daily detail.