Do you ever feel like you’re the only person who knows how your business runs? That when a project runs into a problem, everyone else freezes? Or that your employees need to check in with you for a task that they’ve done a million times before? If this sounds familiar, your lack of documentation may be the invisible ceiling that’s limiting your growth potential. Documenting your firm’s core processes can enable you to be a design CEO instead of just a designer.
The Diagnosis
Before you can solve a problem, you have to identify it. Take about an hour to sit down with your team and do a brain dump. List all of the repetitive tasks in your business, from all stages of a project. This might include client intake, paying vendors, writing social media posts, or ordering materials.
Once you have the list, identify the top three bottlenecks. These are the tasks that you feel like take the most time, cause the most stress, or result in the most errors. Apply the 80/20 rule (also known as the Pareto principle) here. The principle states that 20% of your efforts result in 80% of your results. So attack the low-hanging fruit with the biggest impact, and at least for now, ignore the smaller issues that are more challenging to address.
Finally, hone in on those three bottlenecks. Clearly define their scope and their bounds. For example, if the client onboarding process makes the list, clearly lay out when that process starts and ends. Anything outside of that is not part of the process. Perhaps you consider onboarding to begin the moment the discovery call is booked and end the moment the design fee is paid. Whatever you decide, include these rules as your first note in documenting the process.
Documenting the Cash Flow Process
If there is any core process that should be documented and abundantly clear, it should be anything to do with generating income and collecting money. This includes invoicing, pricing, and bookkeeping. Hopefully, you already have an invoice template or software that can do it for you. If you need to use a template, make sure that the document is saved somewhere that anyone who needs it can access it.
It’s always a good idea to document the process in a step-by-step list, but for something like invoicing, it might be more helpful to record your screen and narrate the process. This captures the true workflow, especially if it involves any unexpected specific needs of the software you use. A video recording like this also means that visual learners will be more likely to pick up on it.
Run the resulting checklist by your team and see if they have any questions. What is second nature or obvious to you may not be immediately clear to everyone. Fill in the resulting gaps with additional detail.
Documenting the Client Process
Document the most important process related to client expectations and securing the client relationship. Try using a visual representation like a flowchart. There is no reason to overcomplicate things, so keep the shapes and flows simple. For example, if you’re mapping the client relationship process, you may include a node titled “client requests changes” with a one path titled “major change” and one titled “minor change”. Each route will lead to a different outcome. By documenting it in this way, new employees can follow the flowchart until it becomes natural.
Keep this documentation in a manual available to all employees. This could be an employee handbook or a more specific guide on how to communicate with clients.
Documenting Sourcing and Procurement
Be honest: Is the process for ordering from every one of your vendors exactly the same? It’s probably not. And if it’s not, that is all the more reason to document the process of procuring materials for each unique vendor. Use screenshots or screen recordings to document each vendor’s ordering system, and supplement the images with clear arrows, highlights, and relevant text notes. Be sure to include contact information for preferred contacts at each company, and any special notes about your relationship with the vendor.
Do the same for your company’s own internal inventory system so that you can avoid any errors or misunderstandings, such as ordering an item that is already in stock.
To add to this documentation, consider creating a glossary of terms with industry-specific jargon and acronyms that could be intimidating to a new hire.
Make it Easy
Creating documentation is one thing. But knowing that it’s useful and then putting it into action are entirely different. Have a short review session. Have a new hire or a friend run through one of your process documents and see if they interpret it correctly. Listen to their feedback and keep an eye out for gaps or mistakes in your instructions.
Because documentation is a living file that must be updated as needed, someone needs to have ownership of it. For now, that can be you. However, if you have department heads or someone who tends to lead that core process already, they should be in charge. If no one is given this responsibility, then who will update the documentation?
You also shouldn’t let these standard operating procedures get lost in scattered folders. Keep them in a central location that everyone knows, and that is easy to find if forgotten about. This can take the form of a Google Drive folder, a team wiki page, or an easy-to-access link.
A Weight Off Your Shoulders
Being the only source of information is stressful. Getting what comes second nature to you out of your mind and onto paper should be a liberating experience. You will no longer be the bottleneck, or the one who has to train new hires in the unique ways of your business. Now you’ll have more time to be a CEO! Every day you don’t spend re-explaining a core process is one less day stuck in the weeds of daily tasks. With detailed and accurate documentation, you are building a sustainable and scalable business that can operate even without your input! And that is really the dream.