Pareekh Jain’s Post [Video]

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are documented processes created by companies to ensure consistency. They establish guidelines or instructions so employees know what to do in specific situations, allowing them to work more productively while complying with regulations and expectations. How do you write standard operating procedures: Step 1: Decide how to format your SOPs. Step 2: Bring together the relevant stakeholders. Step 3: Discover your purpose. Step 4: Identify the structure of your SOPs. Step 5: Define the scope of the procedure. Step 6: Use a consistent style. Step 7: Work out the necessary steps in the process. Step 8: Assess potential problems in your process. Step 9: Test your SOP & Step 10: Launch your SOP into the world.

Very cute. I'm definitely going to try this one out on my daughter when she's old enough 🤣 I think I see a twofold issue here: firstly, a failure to be clear on expected outcomes (i.e., what a finished, well-crafted PB&J should look like, rather than how it is made), and secondly, a lack of empathy for the needs of the end users (the kids, who just want to eat a delicious stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth PB&J). If those two elements are present upfront, then many of the operational details can take care of themselves. I think this is a clear illustration of how, if we fail to be clear on outcomes and to be empathetic, micromanagement and siloed thinking become inevitable. This is not to say that SOPs are not needed and useful in the pursuit of operational excellence, consistency and continuity; more that, if they are framed by well-understood expectations, they are more likely to succeed in their intent.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That’s why you need to write manuals as if you write them for dummy’s! No disrespect intended! Dummy here being a person with no prior knowledge of the subject or apperatus. As soon as someone writes a manual who has in-depth knowledge of the subject they’ll: -1- start using jargon! Nobody else knows! -2- start leaving simple but essential steps out. Because that’s logical everyone knows this …. No you numbsk&@ll they don’t! -3 start explaining what can go wrong 😳🤪😂🤪😂

Lots of comments so I’ll put my own…. It’s funny and cute, but all so true! Some people might say that you must have common sense to follow the procedures but remember that what’s common sense for the person writing it, it doesn’t mean the whomever is going to read it have the same common sense (or skills) In my industry (MSP) we write our documentation, procedures for someone that has never done it before or even had the same experience or skills…. Always write your procedures for the newest person in the organization with no experience at all, that would be your best procedure yet! Thanks Pareekh Jain for posting this!

Used the "Make a pot of coffee" procedure many times in class. Make the students drink their coffee after they write the procedure to really drive it home.

Yes this is cute and funny but there is more to training new employees that good SOPs especially for shift workers. New employees also learn from the experienced workings who show them the ropes. But the experienced work may not have kept up with the latest SOP version and/or has learn better (other ways) of doing things for various reasons, quicker, easier, what every makes their job easier and these "unwritten" procedures and methods get passed on to the new employees. You find good supervisors and they are worth their weight in gold. Taking the gobbledygook out of SOPs is a good place to start.

Even better than well-written instructions is a culture where one person trains another, and the highly-skilled person uses the documentation to refresh their memory. This is far more effective than giving an unskilled, untrained worker the documentation and expecting them to become highly skilled on their own. This is repeated throughout highly effective organizations, including the military. Yes, there’s a manual on every single piece of equipment to supplement your training, but a highly-skilled trainer is primarily responsible for teaching you how to use it.

There are many lessons that can be learned from this. The basic being the need for SOPs. But we're professionals, we already knew that. Maybe a bit more advanced - the power of visual instructions, pictures of the step outcomes. But we knew that too. Or maybe the importance or training to augment and qualify workers - yeah still old hat. Maybe there is a lesson here about the difficulty of bad relations with your workers. The father, to teach a lesson, is intentionally following the instructions in a way to not achieve the desired outcome. You could make an acceptable PBJ with the first set of instructions. However, he's intentionally avoiding that path to make a point. The point is though it is extremely difficult to make usable instructions that are error proofed. The engagement and willingness of the operator to participate is crucial to success.

SOPs don't necessarily need to be too detailed because: Over-detailed SOPs can be difficult to follow and lead to confusion for employees, which can result in deviations from the intended process. Excessive details can make SOPs lengthy and time-consuming to read and understand, leading to reduced compliance and decreased adoption. Having too much information can also make it challenging to revise and update SOPs as processes change over time. It is important to strike a balance between having enough detail to effectively standardize a process and keep it consistent, while avoiding too much detail that can lead to inefficiency and decreased effectiveness.

The inspector reviewed an SOP after an incident. "Where does it say in this SOP that an employee should not cross the railing," he asked. Because the employee was injured after stepping over the guardrail and falling. I replied "it's common sense, you can't step over the handrail, it is there to keeps you from falling". He said, "How do you know your common sense is the same as that employee's common sense?" I replied to him, "It doesnt say you shouldn't jump out of the window on the window of your room., shall I?" The inspector said, "No, you shouldnt"....