How Detailed Should My Processes Be?
Detail is like salt. You can always add, but taking it out can be messy. And getting it “just right” makes everything so much better.
The question I get more than any other is this: “How detailed should our processes be?”
What I’ve found over the years is that the real question people have is: “How do we get clear on what’s working, without killing a good thing with bureaucracy?”
Document too little, and it’s barely worth writing down in the first place. Your team doesn’t have the information they need to do their job.
Document too much, and you can get in the weeds fast. It takes longer to sift through the pages and pages of information than it would take just to figure it out or ask someone.
So where’s the sweet spot? Which details matter—and which ones don’t?
Like any other expert worth their salt, my answer is: it depends. Here are 4 questions to help you decide for yourself.
What’s the problem you’re trying to solve?
A business friend emailed me last week asking me to “take a look at this process” … not a service I offer ;)
It was a list of steps, some of which made sense to me and some that didn’t, because I had no context. So I replied back and asked the only question that matters at first: “What is the problem you’re trying to solve here? I can’t give any feedback until I know what you’re trying to accomplish.”
Do you want to…
Bring together 5 people who are doing it 5 different ways?
Find efficiencies in what you think is a broken process?
Train someone who’s never done it before?
Something else?
Each of the use cases above might require varying degrees of detail.
Key Takeaway: Process is not the end; it’s a means to an end. So what is your end?
Who is it for?
The next question I’ll ask this business friend is, who are you writing this for?
Yourself?
An expert in your field to use as a checklist?
A new hire who needs to learn how to do it for the first time?
An expert is someone you hire for the skills they bring to your business. Their expertise could be in something like accounting, or it could be in mopping floors or making food. The point is they know what they’re doing before they get to you, because they’ve already learned how to do it.
You don’t need to teach experts how to do their job—that’s why you hired them. Experts need to know how you define success in their role. And they might benefit from a checklist or two.
Learners come to you with time and eagerness, but little expertise. Maybe they just graduated with an MBA, maybe they’re career shifting after building expertise in another field for decades, or maybe they’ve just never mopped floors before.
Learners need more detail about how to do their job. They’re teachable, but they need more guidance than experts do. In addition to understanding how you define success in their role, learners need context (how does what they do fit into the bigger picture?) as well as concrete examples of how to get the job done.
Key Takeaway: Process is communication. Who is your audience?
3. How much nuance is involved?
Have you ever written a process out and used it…until one day it reminds you of Frankenstein?
You’ve added so many sub points and exceptions to the rule that it’s not only unclear, it also takes longer to read than any intelligent person would ever spend?
When that happens, it’s usually because you’re trying to communicate a process that’s more gray than black and white. It has more nuance than it does right and wrong.
Is there a right way to do marketing? Not really, but you’ve probably found some best practices.
Is there one way to close a sales deal? No, but you can likely list the objections you get most frequently.
There are some areas of your business where you need fewer processes, and more frameworks for decision-making. You need to do less delegating of tasks, and more teaching others how to decide for themselves.
Key Takeaway: When nuance is involved, give less detail and more guidelines.
4. How often will it change?
On the flip side, there will be parts of your business that constantly evolve—such as technology. The steps it takes to run Facebook or Google ads, for example, (are those still a thing?) will look different today than they did last year.
In those cases, give enough information for someone to “figure it out” without spending hours on every minor detail.
Key Takeaway: Don’t fret over something that will change next week.
Bottom line: Is the process juice worth the squeeze?
If a little documentation helps your team move with more clarity and confidence, great. But if it adds friction or confusion, pause and ask: is there a better way to say this? A simpler way to teach this?
Because you’re not curating a museum; you’re building a plane while flying.
Getting processes out of your head and onto paper happens the same way you eat an elephant…one bite at a time.
When you’re ready, here’s how I can help:
The Business Playbook Bootcamp
A 1-day intensive followed by a 30-day launch period where you will master the 3 pillars of process: define, document, delegate
When we’re done, you’ll be armed with:
Clarity on what’s working in your business at this point in time
Simple, solid content to train your growing team, and keep everyone rowing in the same direction
A robust learning management system that takes the heavy lifting out of operationalizing your playbooks, and helps you drive accountability throughout your organization
Hi, I'm Elizabeth
After growing and selling my first business in the hospitality industry, I started Untangled to help other business owners scale their business without losing its soul.
I've been working with fascinating, smart, growth-minded entrepreneurs ever since. Most have rapidly growing small businesses where it's challenging to get everyone aligned around doing things the same way.
Curious about working together? Reach out here: elizabeth at untangleyourbiz dot com or send me a DM.
