4 questions to answer before you create an SOP

Having solid, step-by-step processes for how you do something in your business is one of the best ways to optimize your business and be more effective.

You can think of these Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as a recipe for running your business or getting certain tasks/projects done.

But before you start documenting a process or how you do something, you want to be clear on the specific task and purpose behind creating it.

That’s exactly what we talked about in the last article in this series: The Most Important SOP to Create Right Now. So if you haven’t figured that part out yet, start back at GO, or just read that article and then come back here once you've got your first SOP in mind and you know the why behind it. 

The next step is to get clear on a few things about this SOP. 

Start by asking yourself these 4 questions:

1. How detailed does the SOP need to be?
2. Who is the intended audience of the SOP?
3. What are the objectives of the SOP?
4. And, finally, what form should the final SOP take?

Let’s take a specific example and walk through each question together.

Imagine that the SOP you want to create is for: building a new page on your website.

And imagine the WHY behind that SOP is: so that you can outsource it to someone else because right now it's something that only you know how to do...

Okay let's answer those questions:

1) How detailed does the SOP need to be?

Answer – Very detailed, at least if you're a perfectionist like me and you have very specific ways of doing things.

2) Who is the intended audience of the SOP?

Answer – Your new contractor, or employee.

3) What are the objectives of the SOP?

Answer – To provide all of the detailed information needed for this new person to build a new page on your website AND so that they can do it again and again themselves with less and less input from you.

4) And, finally, what form should the final SOP take?

Answer – This is where it gets tricky, because there may be more than one answer. But let's assume that a screen share video (like Loom) is the best form for it to take (at least for now) but that you also want to have a checklist to go with it that they can use for making sure nothing is missed.

Lovely! Now you're ready to actually create your SOP so your process is documented and boy do I have some tips for you on how to do it. 

Check out the other articles in this series:

1. What the heck is an SOP?
2. The most important SOP to create right now
3. 4 questions to answer before you create an SOP
4. My SOP for creating SOPs
5. 5 time-saving hacks for creating SOPs