Writing down procedures with AI

In many small businesses, know-how sits in one person's head: how to issue a credit note, how to close the till, what to do when a delivery is late. When that person is away, the searching begins. Writing procedures is easy to put off. AI makes it much lighter work.

The quickest route

1. Let the expert talk. Record a voice memo or have someone explain out loud how the task works. Messy is fine.
2. Let AI structure it. Turn the transcript or notes into numbered steps, with what you need and what to watch out for at each step.
3. Have someone else test it. A colleague who doesn't know the task follows the procedure. Where they get stuck, something's missing.
4. Update it. Fill the gaps and agree where the procedure is kept.

A good procedure includes

• A title and the purpose in one sentence.
• Who does it and when.
• What you need: access, documents, materials.
• Numbered steps, one action per step.
• Points to watch and common mistakes.
• What to do if it goes wrong, and who to call.

Let AI ask questions

Experts' explanations often skip steps that seem obvious to them. Ask the AI explicitly to point out where steps seem missing or unclear. Those are the questions to take back to the expert.

Watch out for

• Passwords and access codes never belong in a procedure or an AI tool.
• Keep procedures in one place everyone knows, and date them.
• A procedure is never finished. Agree that whoever finds a mistake fixes it straight away.

Exercise

Pick one task that only one person knows well today.

Prompt to copy