The Value of Writing SOPs (Even for “Simple” Tasks)
Working in a small business often means wearing many hats. One day you’re managing client deliverables, the next you’re handling finances, and sometimes you’re troubleshooting IT issues you never planned to touch. Some of these tasks are routine and second nature, but others only come up every few months.
Here’s the trap we all fall into: you sit down to deposit a set of checks, submit a grant deliverable, or log into a system you rarely use, and you think, “This is easy—I’ll definitely remember how to do this next time.” Fast forward six months, and suddenly you’ve spent 30 minutes retracing your steps, trying to remember your password, the sequence of steps, or the small quirks of the system. Eventually, you figure it out, saying, “Oh yeah, that’s right!” — but not before wasting time and mental energy.
The truth is, no matter how mundane these tasks may seem, documenting them in a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) pays off. A well-written SOP:
Saves time. Instead of re-learning a process, you can follow your documented steps and move on quickly.
Reduces errors. When a task is infrequent, it’s easy to overlook a critical step. An SOP ensures you don’t.
Frees mental energy. You shouldn’t spend brainpower recalling a 20-step process for depositing checks. Save that energy for the work that actually requires your expertise and creativity.
Think of SOPs as a way of “outsourcing” your memory to paper (or a shared drive). Once it’s documented, you no longer have to rely on half-remembered steps or reinvent the wheel every time.
The next time you catch yourself saying, “This is easy, I’ll remember,” stop and ask: “Will future me thank me if I write this down now?” Chances are, the answer is yes.
It’s not always easy to carve out the time to write something down. When you’re busy just trying to stay afloat, documenting a process often slips to the bottom of the list. That’s where I come in. I specialize in taking those repetitive or hard-to-remember tasks and turning them into clear, easy-to-follow SOPs. You tell me which processes you’re struggling to replicate, and I’ll do the work of mapping them out, investigating the best way to streamline them, and building a procedure that actually fits the way you work. The result: a practical guide that saves you time, reduces errors, and makes your operations run more smoothly—so you can focus on the work that really matters.
