Oct. 2: Process documentation is not futile. But you’re writing them all wrong. Weekly challenge and more…
You Think Process Documentation is Futile?
One of the most stand-out characteristics of the Nuclear Navy and submarine I served on was the methodical documentation of every procedure and process. This process documentation was a vital part of doing our jobs effectively and preventing mishaps. But process documentation is a necessary part of any successful team. It provides valuable context and allows teams to perform to set standards in a consistent way, achieving higher levels of service for your stakeholders and clients. Simply put, if you truly want a thriving organization you must prioritize the creation and maintenance of process documentation.
This post explains the ins and outs of process documentation and a simple guide for how to get started creating them for your own team. There is a lot of helpful foundational info in this one, so be sure to check it out.
First Principles Friday: You’re Writing your Process Documents all Wrong
My first post laid the foundation and laid out a guide for how to implement process documentation. This post continues this topic by focusing on the single most important characteristic of successful process documentation: specificity.
Specificity is needed so that a relatively new team member can pick it up and perform the job with some level of competence without much training. Also, specific process documentation serves as a foundation for improvement through formal feedback mechanisms. When you are specific, you can experiment and document best practices.
Check out this post for tips on how to get specific with your documentation. I also include helpful counter-arguments to some common complaints against specificity in process documentation.
Weekly Challenge
Ask your team if and how they are currently using documented processes, policies or procedures to do their work. If they’re not referencing them, ask why. If they are, ask for the pros and cons of the documentation they are currently using. Take notes on their feedback and identify areas where your process documentation needs improvement.
Making the changes will be a longer-term project, but this initial evaluation of where you stand is a fairly quick and necessary step they will set you up well for the future.
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