TCFBO #021: Documented Processes. Why Bother?

Read Time: 4 minutes

Paul loves processes.

Philly isn’t so keen.

But let’s face it, documenting processes is probably right up there with paying taxes when it comes to activities that most business owners think are enjoyable.

However, if you take the time to document your business processes there are several significant benefits to be gained including…

- Consistent and repeatable results

- Reduced training time for new team members

- Decreased dependency on specific people to carry out a task

- Easier delegation of responsibilities to staff or outsourcers

- The ability to identify inefficiencies

We do understand that if you’re working on your own and doing all the work yourself, documenting your processes can seem especially pointless.

You know what you do.

Nobody else needs to know.

You just get on and do what you’ve got to do.

And you can do it in whatever way suits you best.

But even a one-person business can benefit from having documented processes.

For example, if there’s something you have to do repeatedly but you only have to do it once a quarter, like completing your VAT Return, you’re unlikely to remember everything you have to do when it comes the time to do it because you’re not doing it all that frequently.

As such, you can end up wasting a heck of a lot of time trying to remember what you did last time.

And the chances of you forgetting an important step in the process are greatly increased.

Whereas, if you have a documented process, all you need to do is remember to follow it the next time you have to complete the task.

Plus, you’ll be surprised how much your mind is freed up to focus on the things you love just by having your processes written down.

And the good news is that you don’t need to be an analytical genius to write processes.

And you don’t need to overcomplicate it.

You just need to get the basic foundations in place and add to them over time.

Now, to be clear, a process is simply a series of actions that you take to achieve a result.

So when you next start a task, ask yourself whether you already have a documented process for what you are doing.

If there is, go and get it and follow it.

If you hit a problem following it, you’ve just found an opportunity for you to adjust it and improve it.

If you don’t have a documented process for what you are doing then ask yourself whether you have ever done this task in the past or if you are ever likely to do this task again.

If the answer is:

“No, this is definitely a one-off task”

…then it’s almost certainly not worth spending your time documenting a process for it.

However, if you know you’re likely to have to go through the same steps again in the future, take the opportunity to document the steps this time round so you don’t have to think about it next time.

OK. So you’ve decided to document a process.

How do you go about writing it down?

One of the simplest ways is to think about it as if you are writing a recipe. (In fact, a recipe is a process).

A recipe has:

- A name

- A list of ingredients

- Directions on how to make the recipe

A process has:

- A name

- A list of things you’ll need to complete the process (i.e. the ingredients)

- Directions on how to complete the process

Your process should be as easy to follow as someone following a recipe for the first time.

So let’s say that once a quarter you need to download your online bank statements to give them to your bookkeeper and you decide you want to document this process to hand it over to someone else in your team.

First off you need a name for your recipe:

“Process for Downloading Bank Statements”.

Keep it simple and make it clear.

Once you’ve got the name, start carrying out the steps, writing each one down in the directions as you go along:

How to Download Bank Statements:

Step 1 – Open up a browser and go to www.bank.com

Step 2 – Click the login for business banking

Step 3 – Enter your username

Step 4 – Enter your password

Step 5 – Follow the onscreen instructions to authenticate using your bank card and bank card reader

As you go through the steps you can see that you’re going to need some ingredients to carry them out.

So start adding these ingredients to your ingredients list…

To complete this process you will need:

- Computer

- Bank card

- Bank card reader

- Username

- Password

Then continue to document each step.

And as you do so, notice what things you need to carry out that step and add them to your list of ingredients.

One thing to avoid when writing the directions for your process is assigning the names of people you think will be carrying out the step.

For example, avoid writing:

Step 1 – John opens up a browser and goes to www.bank.com

Instead, assign specific roles to each step once the process has been documented.

For example:

Step 1 – Open up a browser and go to www.bank.com (Finance Manager)

Step 2 – Click the login for business banking (Finance Manager)

If you do add roles to the process steps, something to bear in mind is how often there is a handover from one role to another.

The more handovers there are, the more chance there is of something being dropped.

So the more you can keep a process within the responsibility of one role, the better.

And if an entire process is to be carried out by one role, you can simply add that role to the process name, rather than to each step.

“Process for Downloading Bank Statements - (Finance Manager)”

If you’ve never documented your processes before, we appreciate it may seem like a chore and feel like you’ve got better things to do with your time.

However, when you get into the swing of things, even if you document just one process a week, you’ll realise how much headspace is freed up knowing that you can forget about how to carry out a task until you next need to do it.

Which will leave your mind clear to focus on even more of the things you love.

Let us know how you get on and we’ll see you next week.

Paul & Philly

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