EPISODE 7: How to Document Your Processes

How to Streamline Your Processes - Episode 7/8

Documentation is Boring and No One Wants to Do It

In This Episode (7) I Will Hopefully Convince You Why We Should be Documenting and Give You Some Tips On How to Make It A Lot Less Painful

I get it, I don't like documenting either BUT there are so many reasons why it's important that we do. In this episode I will share why, how and how you can use AI to make your life a lot lot easier.

Hi, I’m Rebecca A business operations adviser helping busy business owners win their time back.

Let's get into it.

Why Do We Document Processes?

There are So Many Reasons

But the core ones are:

It Gets Everyone On the Same Page, Literally

It ensures we all do it the same way. It means we are less likely to make mistakes or cause errors from missed steps and new people can learn it quickly.

It Matters for Business Continuity

Want to delegate, no problem. Someone calls in sick, you're covered. Someone leaves, your business runs on.

It Means Your Processes are Defined

YOUR processes are of course defined, we have just spent 6 weeks doing that, but if we hadn't documenting means you are forced to define the process in one single way. Often this highlights disagreements and opportunities for improvement.

For Growth

If you want to scale you need processes. Processes create a system, no system no scaling.

What is Documentation?

What are We Actually Talking About Here?

Documentation is any form of communication that explains, describes or instructs.

It's usually a written up document of the step by step instructions along with; the goal of the process, who is involved, what it connects to. There is no single way to do it.

What Should You Include?

There are No Rules By I Suggest:

• A numbering system grouping by department or product [1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2]
• A descriptive name
• Who is responsible for running the process
• Who is responsible for updating the documentation
• A date of when it was last updated
• A date of when it is due to be updated
• Dependents/ Conditional on
• Context of the process, why does it exist, what transformation or goal
• Any apps or tools needed and any passwords or keys
• The step by step guide.

How to Make Documenting Much Easier

Apologies - I Don't Know What Happened the to Audio Here ??

We Live in an Age of AI So the Options Are Endless...

• Automatically write up computer based processes (take screen shots follow your clicks)
• Build a Chat GPT assistant to 'interview' the process owner and write up the results into a template
• Utilise Voice to Text/ Speech to Text - capture a process, transcribe it and add it to a template
• Use meeting note taking apps to get you a summary
• Video
• Screen recording...

Some of these things might seem beyond reach but if you have a little patience and time to watch YouTube videos you'll get it. Or hire someone to help you out.

See you Next Thursday

One episode left... how to get your team to come along with you and actually do the new processes.