Guides · Small business
How to Write an SOP Your Team Will Actually Follow (With Template)
Most SOPs fail the same way: someone writes a ten-page document, it lives in a shared drive nobody opens, and everyone keeps asking the owner how things are done. A useful SOP is short, written for the person doing the task, and kept where the task happens.
What to document first
Don't try to document the whole business. Start with tasks that are:
- Frequent: done every day or week (opening up, processing orders, invoicing).
- Error-prone: where mistakes cost money or customers.
- Stuck in one head: only you (or one employee) knows how, so the business stops when they're out.
Pick three. A business with three good SOPs is better off than one with thirty abandoned drafts.
The one-page format
Every SOP should answer five things, in this order:
- Purpose: one sentence on why this task matters. "So every order ships within 24 hours and the customer gets tracking."
- Who and when: the role responsible and the trigger. "Shipping lead, every weekday by 2 p.m."
- What you need: tools, logins, supplies.
- The steps: numbered, one action each.
- Done means: how you know it's finished and correct.
How to write steps people follow
- Start every step with a verb: "Open", "Print", "Check", "Email". Not "The packing slip should be printed."
- One action per step. If a step has "and" in it, it's probably two steps.
- Name the exact button, field or file. "Click Fulfill items in Shopify", not "mark it done in the system".
- Put the decision points in plainly: "If the address is a P.O. box, ship USPS. Otherwise, UPS Ground."
- Add a screenshot wherever someone would otherwise ask "where is that?"
- Flag the step that goes wrong most with a short warning: "Check the quantity twice; mis-picks are our #1 return reason."
Test it on someone else
The real test of an SOP: hand it to someone who has never done the task, say nothing, and watch. Every time they hesitate or ask a question, the document needs a fix. Two rounds of this usually gets an SOP to "anyone can do it."
Keep it alive
- Put the SOP where the task happens: printed at the packing station, linked in the tool, pinned in the team chat.
- Give each SOP an owner and a "last reviewed" date. Review every six months or when the process changes.
- When someone finds a better way, update the SOP that day. A wrong SOP is worse than none.
Copyable SOP template
| Section | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Title | [Task name], e.g. "Ship daily orders" |
| Purpose | Why this matters, in one sentence |
| Owner / when | Role responsible, and the trigger or schedule |
| You need | Tools, logins, supplies |
| Steps | 1. Verb + exact action 2. ... If X, then Y. |
| Done means | How to check it's complete and correct |
| Watch out for | The common mistake, and how to avoid it |
| Last reviewed | Date, and by whom |
If you know how the work gets done but don't have the time to write it up, Chimera writes SOPs, onboarding packs and proposals. Walk her through the process in a message (or send your rough notes) and she'll turn it into clean, numbered procedures. She quotes it before she starts, and you see it before you pay. For the rest of the documents worth having, see the small business paperwork checklist.