Overview

TaskTrain is optimized for making actionable standard operating procedures, that is, SOPs that can easily be used to define, coordinate, and track, repeating workflows. The key to this is breaking down work instructions into discrete, logical steps. While generic SOPs can take many forms, from freeform narratives to flowcharts to process diagrams, TaskTrain enforces writing individual checklist steps. This allows a TaskTrain Procedure​ to be used as a template for each individual Assignment​ instance. TaskTrain allows Procedure Steps​ to be arranged in a hierarchical outline of substeps up to four levels deep in order to group related steps and make the instructions easier to understand.

Since the overwhelming majority of SOPs are a linear sequence of steps, outlines lend themselves naturally to their description; their list format mirrors the structure of task sequences. In addition, the outline form goes beyond a simple list, allowing the steps in any process to be grouped together into logical sections. Since human working memory is limited, such hierarchical organization allows the reader to understand the “big picture” of the procedure without getting lost in the individual steps.

Well-crafted outlines are workhorses, doing double- or triple-duty as step-by-step guides, progress trackers, completion checklists, and work records. Squeeze as much productivity as possible out of these simple, elegant tools by adhering to the following simple suggestions for writing outstanding outline-based standard operating procedures.

Procedures

Scoping Procedures

1. Group by goal and task dependence: Consider the immediate business objective first to identify the steps that must be followed to reach that goal, regardless of who will execute them. Any steps that are interdependent or must otherwise be properly sequenced should be part of a single procedure so that those following it can understand those dependencies and the part they are playing in achieving the goal. However, if steps may run in parallel without dependency and are executed by different people or workgroups, it probably makes sense to create separate procedures for each.
2. Segment by triggering condition: An actionable procedure has a limited scope, defined by the triggering condition which initiates it and the goal of the work it accomplishes. While it’s tempting to include everything related to a topic in a single procedure, doing so can overwhelm or confuse readers and prevents it from being easily used to coordinate and track work. For example, “Asset Inventory Management” is a process area too broad to be captured in a single procedure and should instead be broken into at least four separate procedures, according to the independent condition triggering its execution:

Naming Procedures

1. Use concise, descriptive, unique, subject-action noun phrases: Start your procedure name with the subject it addresses, followed by the specific action executing the procedure accomplishes, for example: "Expense Report Filing", "Expense Report Generation", "Expense Report Reconciliation". Starting with the topic keeps related procedures automatically alphabetized together. Ending with the action ("filing", "reconciliation") makes the activity carried out clear. Using a phrase instead of a full sentence makes the name easily comprehensible and short enough to show up in list views.
   
2. Omit unnecessary words: Avoid using words that are applicable in all procedure names, such as starting the name with "How to" or ending with "Procedure", as these redundant words obscure the topic and make searching more difficult.
3. Use title case: Capitalize each important word in the name to differentiate Procedure names from Step names.
   
4. Use symbols, acronyms, & typographic symbols: While you should be cautious about using unfamiliar acronyms or abbreviations that may be ambiguous or difficult to read, using well-understood or previously defined acronyms and abbreviations, as well as common typographic symbols to substitute for words ("&" for "and", "%" for "percent", "/" for "or") can keep names short and easy to parse.
   

Describing Procedures

Procedure descriptions provide important context for those who assign work. TaskTrain's description field is free-form, so you can enter whatever information makes the applicability of the Procedure clear, but we recommend answering all of the following basic interrogatives as applicable in separate sections within the description:

• What…
  • for: What is the immediate objective or end result of carrying out these work instructions?
  • else: What other procedures are closely related?
    
• Why: What is the higher-level goal that motivates executing this procedure?
  
• Who…
  • is interested: Who should be aware of these work instructions and who should know when work is executed?
    
  • is qualified: What knowledge, skills, abilities, training, or certification form prerequisites for executing this procedure?
    
  • is permitted: What role, permission, or authorization must the assignees of this procedure have before executing it?
    
• When…
  
  • Occasion: What precondition or event triggers the execution of this procedure?
    
  • Frequency: How often is this procedure carried out?
    
  • Duration: How long should the procedure take to execute?
    
• Where…
  
  • Location: Where is the work to be carried out?
    
  • Permitted: What statutory or safety restrictions, if any, control where work may be executed?
    
• With What…
  
  • Materials: What consumable resources or parts are required to execute this procedure?
    
  • Tools: What tools are required or useful to execute this procedure?
    

Steps

Defining Steps

1. Follow the sequence of work: To be easy to execute, the Step outline should mirror the sequence of actions in the underlying process being documented.
   
2. Identify a specific action: Create a step for every action required to complete the overall procedure that must tracked separately for work coordination/collaboration/communication, or for reporting or auditing purposes. Explanations of how to perform steps that don't need to be tracked separately may be included as Step detail or as Content (see Describing Steps below).
   

Grouping Steps

TaskTrain allows Step outlines to be nested up to 4 levels deep to allow grouping of related steps for ease of understanding. It may be fastest to start by writing your Procedure as a simple flat list of all the individual steps that must be carried out in sequence to complete the work, and then go back over your list and group any related Steps into substeps in order to make the overall Procedure flow easier to follow. The number of levels in your outline and its overall length will vary depending on these considerations:

1. Group related steps: When a series of Steps are closely related and can be summarized by a higher-level objective or phase in the Procedure, consider grouping them together as substeps to make the Procedure easy to grasp at a glance.
   
2. Keep steps at the same logical level: For simplicity of understanding, the nature of tasks or activities should be consistent at each level of the outline. A “nit-picky” detail such as a specific action to take (“send an e-mail with the title “Time Off Request”) should not be at the same level in the outline as a general description of work (“Request time off”). Likewise, such general descriptions should not be at the same outline as even broader section/phase headings (“Request”, “Approval”, “Appeal” …) that may be appropriate to include for particularly long procedures.
   
3. Consider the skill of the assignees: Those already familiar with the Procedure's work requirements need much less specific instructions than those who have never done the work before. Yet another advantage of the outline form! An employee very familiar with the work may need only to scan the top level steps in the outline, while someone unfamiliar can drill-down into as much detail as needed.
   
4. Keep subsections short: The commonly quoted “magic number” of 7+/-2 maximum items in human working memory may not be empirically validated, but it’s still probably a reasonable rule of thumb for the number of steps in an outline level. If the number of steps in a logical grouping exceeds that range, consider breaking it down into several smaller groupings at a lower level in the outline.
   

Naming Steps

The effectiveness of an outline is dependent on its contents being well-written and easy to digest at each step. Since an outline allows additional details to be described at lower levels in the outline, each step should be kept short and consistent with its siblings. 

1. Use phrases, not complete sentences: To make the procedure easy to execute, each step should be understandable at-a-glance. A concise and clearly descriptive phrase quickly conveys intent: “Return completed W-2 to HR”, not “When completed, the employee should return the W-2 form to HR.”
   
2. Use symbols, acronyms, & typographic symbols: While you should be cautious about using unfamiliar acronyms or abbreviations that may be ambiguous or difficult to read, using well-understood or previously defined acronyms and abbreviations, as well as common typographic symbols to substitute for words ("&" for and, "%" for "percent", "/" for "or") can keep step names short and easy to parse.
   
3. Name action steps with verb phrases: Lower-level steps that prescribe a concrete action should use the imperative mood to give the action prominence by starting with the appropriate action verb, for example: “Send e-mail to HR”, “Complete W-2 Form”, …
   
4. Name grouping steps with noun or gerund phrases: Very long procedures may benefit from being grouped into logical sections that describe a phase of the process rather than particular actions. If an outline level does not prescribe any particular action but merely groups together steps that in turn describe actions to be taken, start the step name with a noun phrase, such as: “Project Planning”, Project Initiation”, “Project Execution”, “Project Completion”. Alternatively, use a gerund phrase, such as: "Initiating the Time Off Request", "Completing the Pro Forma Submission Requirements".
   
5. Use decision verbs for branching logic: If a procedure has multiple possible completion paths based on a decision that must be taken at some step, use a decision verb (or equivalent gerund) like "decide/deciding" or "determine/determining" in the verb phrase (for action steps) or gerund phrase (for grouping steps).
   
6. Indicate actors if important: If a Procedure includes hand-offs between multiple actors, consider including the role in the step name parenthetically at the end: “Complete W2- Form [Employee]”, “Approve or deny leave request [Supervisor]”). Alternatively, this information may be included as detail within each step, as described below.
   

Describing Steps

While an outline has many advantages in presenting procedures, sometimes a written description is just not enough. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words (or a video, a million). In these cases, adding additional explanatory content or reference information in the form of narrative explanations, lists, screen-shots, tables, diagrams, or videos allows you to provide just-in-time training and materials for additional understanding to employees who need them without breaking the flow of the outline-based standard operating procedure.

Related resources and additional information that explains a Step but that does not have to be tracked separately for workflow communication/collaboration, reporting, or auditing (and therefore be a substep) may be included either as Step detail or related Content.

1. Use Step detail for information unique to that Step: Each step has a single free-form formatted text detail field that can hold additional information related to the Step that is unique to that Step alone.
   
2. Use Content for reusable related information: Each Step can also connect to an unlimited number of related Embedded, Attached, or Linked Content, which may be related to and reused on more than one Step or Procedure.
   
3. Provide just-in-time training: A primary purpose of providing Step detail or Content is to provide the detailed work instructions and training on how to perform the Step's action if it's not obvious to everyone who may carry out the Step solely from its name.
   
4. Identify acceptance criteria: Detailing the feedback or end states that demonstrates that the Step's action has been performed properly or improperly can be helpful in quality assurance.
   
5. Call out cautions: Always include any appropriate notice of safety or other hazards that may arise while performing the Step. Use the following language to consistently communicate the hazard level, in decreasing order of severity:
   
   1. Danger: Near certain likelihood of death or serious injury [call out before step explanation in red boldface]
   2. Warning: Possible injury or death OR serious damage to equipment [call out before step explanation in red boldface]
   3. Caution: Possible minor injury or damage to equipment [call out before step explanation in red boldface]
   4. Note: clarification [call out in boldface]

Related Articles

Overview

1. Procedures Overview
   
2. Procedure Steps Overview
   
3. Content Overview
   

Step-by-Step

1. Create a Procedure
   
2. Update Procedure Details
   
3. Add Steps to a Procedure
   
4. Update Procedure Step Name & Details
   
5. Reorder Procedure Steps
   
6. Promote/Demote Procedure Steps
   
7. Delete Procedure Steps
   
8. Add Content to a Procedure or Step
   
9. Remove Content