How to Document Your First Business Process (Without Writing a Manual)
Process documentation fails when it aspires to be complete. Start with the one process that costs you the most when it goes wrong.
Keeley Jones
Principal Consultant
Start where the pain is
Do not begin with an org-wide documentation initiative. Begin with the single process that most often goes wrong, costs the most when it does, and is currently held in one person's head.
The one-page format
- Trigger — what starts this process
- Owner — one name, not a department
- Steps — numbered, in plain verbs
- Definition of done — how you know it worked
- Failure modes — the two or three ways it usually breaks
Test it properly
Hand the page to someone who has never done the task and watch without helping. Every question they ask is a gap in the document, not a gap in them.
Then stop
One good page beats a manual nobody opens. Document the next process only when the first one has held for a full month.
About the author
Keeley Jones
Keeley is the principal consultant at J2 Business Services, where she helps owner-led companies build financial operations they can actually rely on — clean books, honest reporting, and a decision rhythm that holds up as the business grows.
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