Turn messy notes into a step-by-step guide your team can follow

Every small business has tasks that live only in the owner's head: opening up, processing returns, onboarding a new client. That's fine until you're ill, on holiday, or hiring.

Writing a standard operating procedure (SOP) from scratch is tedious. Talking through a task is easy. So talk, and let AI do the tidying.

Step 1: Capture the task the lazy way

Next time you do the task, use your phone's voice memo or dictation and narrate as you go: what you click, what you check, what usually goes wrong. Don't worry about order or grammar.

Step 2: Turn it into a guide

Below is a rough transcript of me doing [TASK NAME] at my business. Turn it into a step-by-step guide that a new team member could follow on their first day.

Format:
- Purpose (one sentence) and how long it takes.
- What you need before starting.
- Numbered steps, one action each, starting with a verb.
- "Watch out" notes where I mentioned common mistakes.
- A short checklist at the end to confirm it's done.

Don't add steps I didn't mention. If something seems missing, list it as a question for me at the end.

Transcript:
[PASTE]

Step 3: Test it on someone else

Hand the guide to a colleague or friend and watch them follow it without help. Wherever they hesitate, fix that step. Two rounds is usually enough.

Keep them where people look

A shared folder, a pinned note, a printed sheet by the till. An SOP nobody can find is just a nice document.