You don’t have time to draw your workflows. Here’s how I find the gaps.

Most people “don’t have time” to draw their workflows, so a lot of manual work never gets uncovered or documented.

You don’t have to draw every workflow to find the gaps. You do need to keep track of the things that aren’t covered or documented.

Here’s how I do it.

Start with the questions

It’s easier to spot things that aren’t visible when you’re collaborating. If someone asks, “How is this done?” about something you’d expect the rest of the team to know, that’s a sign there might be a gap. Questions that get asked over and over again can tell you when it’s time to create a workflow or SOP.

Make it easy for you and your team to see where the gaps are. Keep questions in one place, next to the work they came from. Instead of putting them all over Slack, email, and other channels, add them as comments on the relevant task.

Tag it, then check it once a month

Whenever I see something that needs an SOP or some other documentation, I add a “document” tag to the task in our project management tool.

At the end of the month, I go through the tagged tasks and check: does the documentation exist? If it does, does it need updating? Or do we just need to make it more visible?

If your team already records videos while delivering work, you can use those to create or update your documentation. Extract the transcript and ask AI to check it against what you already have and suggest updates.

Two examples

Creating an SOP for the first time

There’s a new platform you’ve been using, and you’re getting more and more requests that involve it. You want to start handing those tasks over to your team because they’re taking up more of your time.

Tag the tasks that involve the platform. At the end of the month, create a video showing how to log in and do the basic things you’ve been asked to do. Having the requests tracked in tasks is helpful: you can see what you’ve been asked to do recently, then review those tasks to work out what to include in the document.

Improving an existing process

Maybe your team got something wrong and had to amend it after delivery. Check the task or ask your team member what the issue was. Then look at whether there’s an SOP or other documentation for it, and what it says. If there’s a step in the documentation that the staff member missed, add that step to the task at hand.

I like to use templates for recurring types of tasks. For example, I have templates for building new forms, updating forms, and working on the most common types of forms. I use them when creating tasks and before delegating. That way, the team has relevant QA checklists, links to documentation, and reference tasks or builds they can look at for guidance.

Put someone in charge

Finally, someone needs to own the SOPs. One person can be in charge of all the documentation, or you can divide the work by topic and have each team manage its own SOPs.

That’s my role with my clients: I look at what could be included in the documentation, tag the relevant tasks, and review them once a month.

You don’t need to map every workflow before you can make things better. Start by keeping track of the questions and issues that come up while the work is happening. Review them regularly, and use them to decide what needs documenting, updating, or making easier to find.

If you’d like help setting up a practical process like this for your team, get in touch with Upgroves and we can work out where to start.