How to Write SOP
Standard operating procedures, SOP, can help an organization reduce waste and increase profit and they are becoming critical to success as organizations experience certification and qualification audits that score the repeatability and predictability of a process or procedure. Using the simple steps outlined below will allow an organization to develop its own plan for creating a SOP.
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Things You'll Need
- Access to knowledge of the existing process.
- Participation and consensus of the areas affected by the process.
Instructions
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Assemble a small group of participants to create the SOP. Vital to the success of any SOP with staying-power is allowing the input of individuals who touch or are touched by the process. For example, to create an SOP for a shipping department, consider allowing input from other departments that create work or are assigned work as a result of the shipping task. Such conventional areas in our example would be to include billing, operations, sales and accounts receivable. Also, don't discount the value of including an individual from a completely unaffected area, such as maintenance or engineering. Having a fresh perspective without preconceived understanding of the status-quo can be extremely revealing.
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Agree on the necessary outcome. Although this step seems so basic that it isn't worthwhile, make sure that the team agrees and understands the mission it is to accomplish. Create the boundaries or scope of the SOP and agree upon what will or will not fall within the scope. Once agreed upon, write this mission in a single sentence and keep it in front of the team at all times. The facilitator should refer to it as necessary. It will work miracles when the team digresses and wanders into the inevitable "out of scope" conversations.
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Walk the process. Never rely on a single participant to know all of the pertinent information no matter how trusted they are. Walk the actual process from inception to completion. At each step in the process, talk with the individuals affected by the SOP. Discuss the mission and understanding of the team so far. It is amazing how people will give you their input if just asked. Tap into this vital ingredient if you do nothing else.
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Once the team understands the process, create a visual map on a white board. Discuss improvements that optimize the process. Keenly search for opportunities to reduce redundancy and queue time. Doing so creates significant value.
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Once the process is mapped and optimized, create a standard process description. Technical writers can be a great resource for this task. Once published, create a book for all of the organization's SOPs. Treat it as the absolute authority. Adherence to it will drive repeatability of the process or drive a SOP revision.
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Tips & Warnings
Be aware that three elements are present in any process. How you think it is, what it actually is and how it should be. Focus on how it should be. Seriously consider using an experienced process facilitator if the team leader is inexperienced at team dynamics and team performance.
Organization leadership must commit to the use of any SOP or it will ultimately fail.
