When I started Emerald Lake Books back in 2014, one of the first things I set about doing was learning all I could about how to do my work well. Knowing that I wanted to publish more than one book, I meticulously documented everything I did. This ensured that when I had to do it the next time, the process would be faster because it would involve less of a learning curve.
Earlier in my career, I’d spent six years working in a highly regulated environment where I was trained in business analysis and process validation. So, I knew that by creating a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the various activities my business had to do, anyone who joined me would have the information they needed to do any task exactly the way I wanted it done.
That may seem like an odd focus for a solopreneur to have, but I knew I wanted to build and scale Emerald Lake Books into a company that was more than just me. And my training had taught me there were multiple benefits to having each process documented.
A clearly defined set of processes:
- Creates consistent standards from one project to the next
- Decreases the learning curve by providing a repeatable set of instructions, which streamlines the time and effort required to complete assigned tasks
- Ensures we can accurately calculate how long each stage of any process should take, which is necessary both for setting reasonable prices and estimating project timelines and resource capacities
- Establishes our quality standards and reduces the likelihood of errors
- Facilitates onboarding new members of our team by providing a structured guide and establishing expectations for what we want them to be responsible for
- Helps us develop a robust program to support our authors as we discover new things we can do to assist them in launching and marketing their books
- Ensures that our business operates in accordance with industry regulations and standards
Best of all, having a clearly defined set of processes ensures that if a key person in the business is no longer available, others can seamlessly take over their responsibilities, minimizing disruptions. (Anyone who has ever heard me speak on this topic has probably heard me describe our project management system as my “If I get hit by a bus” plan. And that’s the whole point. For the business to go on without me, I have to leave behind my knowledge in a format that others can follow and implement so Emerald Lake Books can continue successfully serving our authors long after I’m gone.)
It is also a crucial element that determines the value of your business should you ever decide you want to sell your company. If everything is in your head but you’re no longer part of the business, then there really is little value to transfer to a new owner. But by having everything defined and running smoothly, you greatly increase the value of your business to a prospective buyer.
Ultimately, SOPs play a crucial role in ensuring the smooth and effective operation of a business since they contribute to the company’s consistency, efficiency, quality, and overall organizational resilience.
Understanding Common Process-Related Terms
Before we dig deeper, though, let’s define a couple of core terms I’m going to use moving forward, starting from the smallest item to the largest.
- Task – An assigned piece of work often to be finished within a certain amount of time by a specific individual or role.
- Activity – A set of tasks that, when combined, produce a specific output related to the larger process. This organizational unit serves as a building block of a process. For example, activities related to publishing a book are creating an index or designing a cover.
- Process – A series of activities or tasks that, when executed in a specific order and manner, lead to the creation of a product or service. Throughout the process, inputs are transformed into outputs with the aim of achieving a specific objective or goal.
The challenge for you is to decide what constitutes a process in your business. For some companies, processes are short and finite. For others, the scope is much larger and covers the beginning to end of the product creation. Some processes apply to a specific department, and others are cross-departmental.
For example, one of our core processes at Emerald Lake Books is to publish a book. So, we have one set of instructions that goes from beginning to end, crossing departments as needed to ensure the book is produced the way we want it.
However, another company might have a process that’s specific to onboarding the author and getting the contract in place. And then a separate process for each stage of producing the book—say, one for editing and another for design. And a third company might simply have processes that are specific to each department’s contribution to publishing the book, with no interdepartmental crossovers.
The processes you define can be anything you decide they need to be in order for your specific business to function in the best way possible.
Defining Your Processes
As you think about what your processes should be, consider tying each one to a specific deliverable. It’s up to you how large that output is (whether the whole book or a portion of it), but if you tie each process to its finished output, it will give you a good starting place for thinking about which ones to define first.
It’s up to you how big or small you want to make each process, and any good project management tool will help you keep it all straight.
At Emerald Lake Books, we settled on using Asana after trying a dozen different options. It doesn’t really matter which system you use, but that you commit to using it. That’s half the battle there. If you’re inconsistent about using your project management software, then simply documenting your processes won’t help you manage and prioritize the process execution. You also miss out on the benefits of team communication that ensures everyone who needs to know the current status of a task has access to the information they need.
So, how do you create your own SOPs and set them up within a project management system?
Actually, the answer is easier than you might think (once you commit to a system)! Pick one process you want to document, and then create a project template in your project management system. Outline all the activities associated with the process you’ve chosen and the individual tasks that go into each activity. Then create step-by-step instructions on how to do each task. I highly recommend doing this the next time you’re executing the process rather than trying to pull it all from memory. That way, as you’re implementing the process, you’re reminded of all the little things that go into making it a success.
The way we set up our processes in Asana, the tasks are individual tasks, our activities are the sections those tasks are grouped by, and the collection of activities builds out the entire process.
For each task, we indicate which department the task is associated with, as well as which individual is responsible for doing it. We can also denote that one task cannot be completed until another one is done (in other words, the task has a “predecessor task”), so the system will let the responsible individual know when the predecessor task is completed and the “successor task” can begin.
Within the project template we create, we provide as much information for each task as we can. Who is responsible for doing it? When should they start? When should they be done by? Are there other tasks that must be done before it? Will this task hold others up? How much time should the task take? How much will the task cost to do? Or how much revenue will the task generate? What resources will they need to complete the task? What is the anticipated output when it’s done? And, most importantly, how is the task to be done?
By defining everything within the project template, each time we create a new project based on that template, all that information is available to us. We don’t have to recreate it each time. We simply specify the start date of the project, and Asana calculates the due dates for us based on the information we’ve provided.
Creating Your Task Descriptions
The real secret sauce though is when you define specifically how each task is supposed to be done. There are many ways to document these instructions. But the easiest and least time-consuming is simply to make a video recording of you executing a task the next time you do it. Narrate what you’re doing as you implement the process and the considerations you have in executing that specific step of it. For example, if the task involves completing a form, tell the listener where to find it, which fields to enter and which to ignore, and where to find the data they need to complete the form successfully.
In the task description, we include a link to those video instructions, along with any other relevant information the person doing the task needs to know. For example, is there a vendor they need to reach out to? If so, how is that done? Is there supporting documentation they need to complete the task? If so, where is that located?
Another thing we highly recommend creating is a set of standardized email templates for the common communication you have with your authors. For example, when a new author signs on with you, have an email template you can send that welcomes them aboard and tells them what to expect next. Here at Emerald Lake Books, we keep those templates in a single location, and then when a task comes up that involves sending a standard communication to an author, we have specified in the task description which template to use and when to send that email. (In other words, which event triggers sending the communication.) By having a template to use as the starting point for a repetitive task, we save ourselves time and ensure the communication is complete because we’re not trying to remember everything we need to tell the author.
A good test of any task is to ask someone who is unfamiliar with it to try to do it purely from the task description and related materials. If they succeed, well done! But if they come back with questions, shore up the weak spots in your task description based on their questions and feedback. When your task includes all the available resources and instructions the person executing it needs to succeed, then you have a task that supports a consistent and repeatable action. As you develop more of those and eventually string them together into full processes, you have what you need to grow and scale your business.
Delegating Process Development
If you’re trying to grow from being a solopreneur into working with a team, focus first on the processes that you hope to delegate. Often, when you can offload those tasks, it frees you up for doing the things where you bring the most value to your business. And as you build your team and they start developing their own processes that contribute to the products and services your company offers, ensure that they are documenting their processes as well.
Ultimately, you don’t have to define all your processes on your own, although when you first start out, there aren’t many other options. But as your team grows, designate process owners who are responsible for managing that portion of your business. In the long run, this will yield the best results for both you and your business, adding great value to both your customers and your bottom line.
Tara R. Alemany is an award-winning author, speaker, business consultant, publisher, and self-described “recovering serial entrepreneur,” as well as the host of the Publish with Purpose virtual summit and the Art of Self-Editing Challenge. Her publishing company, Emerald Lake Books, specializes in working with positive people to create high-quality books designed to achieve the author’s goals.