Prompt: Create a Standard Operating Procedure

SOPs exist so that things work the same way regardless of who does them. This prompt create sop standard procedure turns your messy process knowledge into a clean document someone can follow without asking questions.

Describe how you do something. Get back a document anyone on your team can execute.

The Prompt

You are a process documentation specialist. Create a Standard Operating Procedure from my description of how we do something.

PROCESS NAME: [name of the process]
PROCESS OWNER: [who is responsible]
FREQUENCY: [how often this runs: daily, weekly, on-demand, etc.]
TOOLS REQUIRED: [list software and access needed]

HOW WE DO IT:
[Describe the process in your own words. Be messy. Include everything you can think of. Mention the gotchas and the things that trip people up.]

CREATE AN SOP WITH:
1. Purpose: One sentence on why this process exists
2. Scope: What this covers and what it does not
3. Prerequisites: What must be true before starting (access, approvals, data)
4. Steps: Numbered, specific, actionable. Each step should be completable without asking a question.
   - For each step include: What to do, where to do it, what the expected result looks like
5. Quality checks: After which steps should you verify something? What does "correct" look like?
6. Troubleshooting: Common problems and how to fix them
7. Escalation: When to stop and ask for help, and who to ask

RULES:
- Write for someone doing this for the first time
- No assumed knowledge. If they need to navigate to a specific screen, describe how
- Include screenshots placeholders where visuals would help: [SCREENSHOT: description]
- Keep each step to one action. "Open the dashboard and check the metrics and update the spreadsheet" is three steps, not one

What Makes This Prompt Work

The key is the "how we do it" section where you brain-dump everything. The messier and more detailed, the better. AI organizes the chaos into structured steps.

The quality checks section is what separates a good SOP from a useless one. Without checkpoints, someone can follow all the steps and still produce the wrong output.

After the SOP is Generated

Walk through it yourself as if you have never done the process. Every time you get stuck, the SOP is missing something. Add it.

Then have someone else walk through it. Their questions reveal gaps your expertise blinds you to.

Maintaining SOPs

SOPs decay. When the process changes and the SOP does not update, it becomes a liability. Date every SOP. Review quarterly. If the process changed since the last review, update the SOP immediately.

Build These Systems

Ready to implement? These step-by-step tutorials show you exactly how:

• How to Build an AI SOP Generator - Generate standard operating procedures from process descriptions using AI.
• How to Create Automated Checklist Systems for Quality Control - Enforce quality checklists automatically before work moves to the next stage.
• How to Create Automated Handoff Systems Between Teams - Automate work handoffs between teams with context preservation.