You’ve Done a Document Inventory, Now What?

Once you have completed a documentation inventory and prioritized the processes that need to be documented, it’s time to either actually create the process document.

If you are anything like me, staring a blank screen, wondering where to begin can feel overwhelming.

Thankfully, there is a methodology to make the work of creating a process document a bit easier.

Here are the eight steps to get a process documented.

1.    Identify which process you want to create
Easy peasy – you’ve already done that with you documentation inventory and ranking.

2.    Define the scope of the process
Document the start and end points of the process. What triggers it to begin, and how do you know when it’s over?

For example, the process might start when a donation cheque arrives in the mail and may end with the gift documented on the donor’s record.

3.    Invite team members to help
Whether you are developing a new process or updating an existing one, identify who are the folks that directly and indirectly play a role in the process and invite them to contribute to the documentation.

This is where team work makes the dream work.

Instead of you identifying all the steps, or thinking of all aspects of the process alone, you enlist your co-workers to offer assistance, provide commentary and bring forward key bits of information.

4.    Gather information
To gather information, I really enjoy using a swarm document.

A swarm document is essentially a document that allows the folks you have identified to help with your process document write down comments, and information in a centralized location.

The feedback and comments are visible to all and allows folks to participate without having to attend a meeting or brainstorming session.

This allows your co-workers to contribute without having to invest a significant amount of time.

In your information gathering phase, you should consider specific questions you want to ask, clarify definitions, understand timelines, list the sequence of steps, and understand the rationale for completing the steps in the way they are completed.

All this information gathering forms the framework for the process document.

5.    Organize the content
This is where you take all the contributions in the swarm document, and document the process in a standardized format. Your process document can have visuals, screenshots, flow charts and even links to videos.

If you need a process document template, I’ve created one you can access here (/document).

Make sure you aim for a MVP (minimally viable process). There is no point in excessively wordsmithing the steps of the process. Processes are dynamic, ever changing, and evolving. The minute you think you have every step pristinely articulated; something is going to change.

Done is better than perfect.

6.    Get feedback

This is where your you will want colleagues to read and review the process document.

Can they complete the process using only the documentation?

What is confusing? What details are lacking or missing? What other information do they need to complete the process successfully?

Based on the feedback, make edits and changes as appropriate.

7.    Share it with the team

This is it. You’ve worked hard, collected and collated the necessary information, documented the process and ensured it was easy to understand, easy to use.

Now is not the time to simply save your document in some obscure folder in the cloud. Share it. Reference it. Refer back to it. Share it again.

If it’s important it’s worth repeating – and process documentation is important!

8.    Set up a review schedule
As noted, processes are dynamic and ever evolving. But having a process in perpetual draft mode isn’t helpful. That’s why it’s important to get your process document to a done stage and then start actively using.

Process documents aren’t written in stone, which means that they can be changed. Changing it too frequently is disruptive to its success. Never updating it makes it even more ineffective.

That is why it is important to identify a date in the future to review the newly created process document and ensure that how it has been documented is the reality.

For new process documents, I recommend setting up a check-in after three months. For processes that you have updated, the check-in could be a semi-annual or annual review.

Final Thoughts

Documenting processes can feel like busy work that doesn’t have significant value. But that isn’t true. Documentation of processes has many benefits for an organization including:

·      Standardized workflow to increase efficiency and productivity.

·      Reduces the need to remember everything.

·      Ensures that the information is accessible to everyone on the team.

And most importantly, having documented processes supports a positive donor experience and a positive employee experience.

 If you would like more information on documentation, check out my other blog post: Documentation, what is it good for?

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