When a startup is small, everyone just “knows” how things are done. You rely on the collective brain of the founding team. But as you add people, this tribal knowledge breaks down. New hires make mistakes. Quality becomes inconsistent. You find yourself explaining the same task five times a week. The solution is the SOP.
An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out complex routine operations. It is the instruction manual for your business.
Founders often hate writing SOPs. It feels like boring, bureaucratic work. However, SOPs are the only way to decouple the success of the business from the presence of the founder. If it is not written down, you cannot delegate it.
The Franchise Mindset
#To understand the power of SOPs, look at McDonald’s. A McDonald’s is run by teenagers, yet the burger tastes exactly the same in Tokyo as it does in New York. This is possible because every single action, from flipping the patty to cleaning the shake machine, is documented in an SOP.
You should adopt this “franchise mindset” even if you never plan to franchise. You should build your internal processes so robustly that a reasonably intelligent stranger could walk in and do the job with minimal supervision. This reduces your dependency on “rockstars” and allows you to scale with normal people.
SOPs vs. Training
#Training is an event. SOPs are a resource.
You can train someone on Monday, but by Friday they might forget the details. An SOP is permanent. It is always there to reference.
Good SOPs reduce the training burden. Instead of shadowing you for a week, a new hire can read the SOPs for two days and then ask specific questions. This saves hundreds of hours of management time per year.
How to Write Them
#An SOP does not need to be a dense legal document. It should be simple and visual.
- Start with a Goal: What is the outcome of this task?
- List the Tools: What software or logins are needed?
- Step-by-Step: Use numbered lists. “Click here. Type this. Select that.”
- Include Screenshots: A picture is worth a thousand words of text.
- Define Success: How do they know they did it right?
Use video if possible. A five minute Loom video recording your screen while you do the task is often more effective than a ten page document.
The Living Document
#SOPs expire. A process that worked when you had 100 customers will break when you have 1,000.
If your team is following an outdated SOP, you are institutionalizing inefficiency. You must create a culture where SOPs are living documents.
Empower your team to update them. If an employee finds a better, faster way to do a task, they should update the SOP. This turns your entire workforce into process engineers who are constantly optimizing the machine.