When do you need a sop? The Instruction Incline
When you need a sop
You noticed too much variance in your teams work or maybe you’ve given a simple instruction for the 47th time. You need a standard operating procedure (SOP) when a step asks the person doing it to use their judgement. But! If the system already makes the decision, a SOP adds nothing.
I call this the Instruction Incline. Automation sits at one end and documentation sits at the other. The less freedom a step allows, the less you need to explain it. More freedom = more support.
A lot of businesses don’t apply this evenly. Full manuals (never referred to) for straight forward tasks and we trust people with the hardest decisions. Often putting unnecessary pressure on individuals and opening our business to risk.
Stick with the example and apply the logic to your processes regardless of your vertical. And lets discuss SOPs vs Process Maps another time.
The spectrum of the incline
Every step of a process sits somewhere on the spectrum of automation and documentation.
One path: no explanation needed. The system is the way forward. A screen, a line, one answer next. Validation, pre-filled fields and locked options. Writing instructions are wasted effort.
Choices: a short guide works. This might look like some drop downs, probably still one system, yes/no checks. A help card or one-page guide is enough. What is the definition of the options and what do you pick when.
Open judgement: needs full training and a SOP. The individual is weighing information, we’re moving information from one system to another, forming a view and has to stand behind their judgement. No computer can make that call for them. This is where documentation earns it’s keep. A proper SOP, worked examples and training that builds good judgement over time.
Automation should absorb instruction for the purpose of productivity. Documentation fills the gaps automation hasn’t covered.
A Worked example: A credit assessment
Most people have borrowed money, not everyone has been on the other side. A credit assessment covers the whole incline in one process. It also shows how easy it is to put the instruction effort in the wrong place.
The bottom of the incline: entering information. Much of a credit assessment is data entry. Customer details, income, expenses, assets, liabilities and security. In many lending systems this still means typing information in to free-text fields. Often the organisation has gathered this information a number of times from the customer. This isn’t a documentation problem, it’s a system design problem. If the bank already knows the customer, the assessment should pull in all known information and the assessor should confirm rather than re-key it. Free-text fields for known data are an invitation for error! They also often lead to pages of ‘fill in this, fill in that…’ that don’t need to exist. Fix the system, the instruction is irrelivent.
The middle of the incline: a few defined choices. This is where steps are required or we need to pick between some defined choices. Loan purpose, product type or a selection between a few policy options. This needs a short guide or help card that explains what the options are and when to use them.
The top of the incline: the decision. The real work of a credit assessment isn’t the above data and choices. It’s building a well balanced, well-articulated argument that this is good for the customer and the business. The assessor weighs up capacity to repay, character and conduct, security and the risks against the strengths. They put this in writing that makes sense to the credit approver.
No dropdown can do this. This is where the SOP belongs, along with training, examples of strong and week write-ups and feedback from approvers. If the organisation spends it’s documentation budget on field-by-field data-entry guides, it’s investing at the wrong end of the incline.
The lesson: automate what the system knows, guide the few choices, and put your real instruction effort into the judgement calls.
Applying the concept
Map the process. Pick the next best process to solve and list all the steps. Attribute each step with one path, choices or open judgement.
Trim the guide. Where no instruction is needed, cut it out. If more instruction is needed, give it. If you spot automation opportunities, raise them.
Build the dream state. Automate what you can, guide people where they really need it. With training, guides and coaching. Doing all this well maximises productivity from many angles.
Common mistakes
Documenting a screen. Step-by-step instructions for guided processes. The systems got this! And the next automation requires document updates, inefficient.
Instructions in place of poor design. If a field needs a paragraph, we’ve abdicated our responsibility to build good processes to our staff. We should be making their lives easier.
Leaving judgement to memory. The hardest calls are often the least documented. Our people with the best experience often can’t articulate what they do well. When they leave, the knowledge leaves with them.
One template for everything. Applying the same SOP format or principles to every step. Match the SOP to the slope.
FAQ
What is a SOP? A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a written guide to how a task should be done. It lets different people produce a consistent, reliable result. It's most valuable where a task involves judgement, risk or compliance obligations.
Does every process need an SOP? No. Steps that a system fully controls need no SOP, because the system enforces the correct path. SOPs belong where people make decisions the system can't make for them.
What's the difference between an SOP and a help card? A help card is a short reference for a step with a few defined choices. An SOP is fuller guidance for steps that need judgement, and usually comes with training and examples.
What is the Instruction Incline? The Instruction Incline is an Exell Fulcrum framework for scoping process documentation. It places each step between automation and documentation based on how much judgement it asks of the person. Then it matches the level of instruction to that position.
Let’s put this to work in your business.
Are you over-documenting? Do you have opportunity to automate? Where are your opportunities for productivity and staff satisfaction? Exell Fulcrum designs process documentation all along the slope. We write less where you’ve invested in good process and explain the gaps.
See this in your business? A short conversation, no obligation, no pitch. Let’s talk.