Turn a repeated task into a usable SOP

What an SOP is for

Every business has tasks that only one person really knows how to do. Not because they are hard, but because nobody wrote them down. When that person is on site, sick or on holiday, the task waits or gets done wrong. A standard operating procedure fixes that by moving the task out of a head and onto a page.

The test for a finished SOP is simple: could someone new do this on their first day, using only the page, without asking anyone? That test also tells you what the page must contain. Not just the steps, but what starts the task, what has to be true before it starts, who is responsible, who approves what, what to do when it goes off the normal path, and how everyone knows it is done. That same distinction matters when deciding whether to hire an office manager or use AI. BDC's guidance on improving a business with technology makes the same point from the other direction: document and fix the process before you automate it [S10].

The nine parts

From a messy note to an SOP

The fastest way to write an SOP is to get the person who does the task to describe it, badly, in one go. Then structure it. Here is a fictional example of exactly that: a rough note from the office at a home services company about how appointment changes are handled, and the SOP that came out of it.

ok so when someone wants to move their appointment - usually they text or call, sometimes email. we check the calendar, if theres a slot we move it. if its same day we need to tell the tech, sometimes dave says no if its far. deposit stays. if they move it twice we sometimes charge, depends. update the job in the system and text them the new time. oh and if its a warranty visit it has to go through mark first

Using AI to do the structuring

An AI assistant is good at the structuring step and bad at the deciding step, which is exactly the split you want. The risk is that it fills gaps to look complete: it will happily write 'a rescheduling fee of $25 applies after the second change' because that sounds like an SOP. The prompt below is written to stop that. It tells the assistant to work only from your note, to keep uncertainty visible, to ask only about material gaps, and to list what still needs a human answer instead of finishing the job for you.

You are helping me turn a rough note into a standard operating procedure (SOP) for my business. Work only from what I give you. Do not invent policies, prices, deadlines, names, tools or approval rules that are not in my note.

Produce the SOP using exactly these headings: Outcome; Trigger; Prerequisites; Responsibility; Steps; Approvals; Exceptions; Completion evidence; Review date.

Rules:
1. Where my note is unclear, contradictory or missing something material (for example who approves, what the limit is, or what happens when a step fails), do not guess. Put the item in a final section headed "Needs a human answer", as a short direct question.
2. Ask me only about material gaps. Do not ask about wording, formatting or things that do not change what a person would do.
3. Preserve uncertainty. If my note says "sometimes" or "depends", keep that visible in the Exceptions section and add a question about it; do not turn it into a rule.
4. Keep every step something a new team member could follow on their first day without asking anyone.
5. Do not add steps that exist only to sound thorough.
6. Use plain language and short sentences. No marketing or motivational language.

Here is my note:
[paste your rough note here]

Fill in the blank template

Getting SOPs adopted

1. 01Pick the task that stops when one person is awayNot the most important task; the most fragile one. That is where the first SOP pays for itself.
2. 02Have someone new follow it while you watchEvery place they stop and ask is a gap in the page. Fix the page, not the person.
3. 03Attach it to the triggerPut a link to the SOP wherever the task starts: the inbox rule, the booking tool, the job record. A procedure in a folder nobody opens is a memory with extra steps.
4. 04Review on the date you wroteTools change, people change, policies get decided. An SOP that is a year old without a review is a guess about the past. The customer request workflow shows how the same discipline applies to tracking work.

Questions people ask

Can AI help write an SOP without inventing company rules?

Yes, if you tell it to. The prompt on this page instructs the assistant to work only from your note, keep 'sometimes' and 'depends' visible, and put every material gap into a 'Needs a human answer' list rather than filling it. Then you decide.

How long should an SOP be?

As long as the day-one test requires and no longer. Most tasks fit on one page. If it runs to three, you probably have two or three tasks tangled together; split them.

Who should write the SOP, the person who does the task or the manager?

The person who does it dictates the rough note. The manager answers the 'Needs a human answer' questions. Neither can do the other's part well.

What is the difference between an SOP and a workflow?

An SOP is the written procedure for people. A workflow is the sequence of steps a system or a team runs, which the SOP describes. The systems, workflows and loops explainer covers those terms.