6 tips for a good process description

Q.wiki alone leads to a lively management system — we encounter this assumption time and again in our consulting projects. In addition to the right software, another factor is decisive for whether you accept a management system, actively use it and interact with it: the quality of the content. Because without high-quality process descriptions, even the best software is useless. But what does a good process description look like? There is no general answer to this question. However, over the years, we have gained a lot of experience that will help you get your work processes in the right shape.

The goal determines the details

First, you should ask yourself what and who you want to achieve with a process description:

• Is it aimed at non-specialist employees or experts?
• Is it a particularly complicated process or are the individual steps self-explanatory?
• Do you just want to achieve certification with a centrally maintained management system? Or would you like to create a process-oriented knowledge portal with added value for all employees?

All of this determines the right level of detail in a process description, because after all, relevant experience should not be lost in self-evident information. That is why the general rule is: as many details as necessary, as few details as possible. If a process is running flawlessly in reality anyway, just a few details are sufficient. If many errors occur in a process and questions arise frequently, a more detailed process description makes sense. For us, the focus is always on the premise that documentation must create added value for everyday internal work — it should not exist solely on the basis of external requirements.

That is why we assume that you are looking for a process-oriented knowledge portal with Q.wiki or comparable software. In principle, more details are required here than in pure documentary evidence: In addition to the question “What needs to be done? “Is there also the question “How to do it? “to answer. This is achieved by documenting the individual work steps as in a cooking recipe and linking them to templates as well as other systems and work instructions. Thanks to the decentralized design, every employee can add important information or new findings as needed and design the documentation in the way that best supports them in their day-to-day work. This turns rigid documentation with a fixed level of detail into a lively knowledge platform that you can flexibly adapt to current requirements. By the way: The “Why do you have to do it? “You can usually safely neglect it, as it only plays a one-time role when onboarding new employees.

Clearly structure processes

‍How is it actually possible to make a detailed process description lean and clear? A high level of detail and streamlined documentation are definitely compatible:

1. Use bullet points instead of continuous text.
   They convey relevant information without complicated sentence structures — this makes it easier to include the individual aspects. In addition, bullet points can be changed and added much faster than continuous text. And that is, after all, one of the basic requirements for a lively management system.
2. Formulate actively.
   Write “train employees” instead of “employee training.” This clearly conveys the goal of a process step and thus prevents misunderstandings.
3. Document standard cases, not special cases.
   Writing down every smallest contingency makes the process description confusing. Focus on how a process usually works! This is because continuously optimizing the rule while saving one minute at a time has a far more positive effect than saving an hour in a special case.
4. Arrange the process steps linearly.
   Always indicate in chronological order who has what to do and when. Always attach relevant documents directly to the respective process so that no one has to search for them for a long time. The tabular presentation helps to structure the information: By clearly assigning responsibility, interfaces between different departments, for example, become visible.
5. Limit yourself to 15 process steps.
   Our experience shows that more than 15 process steps overwhelm many users — it's better to create another process. In addition, the individual steps should be clearly separated from each other. There is a simple rule of thumb for this separation: If responsibility changes during the process — for example from one department to another — or if two consecutive activities are independent of each other in time, a new process step is required. This ensures secure interfaces without loss of information and a clear time frame. In addition, convert particularly long process steps into an additional work instruction, which you then link in the process.
6. Link to upstream and downstream processes, work instructions, documents and other production systems in your process management software.
   In this way, you create an overall business overview in your management system and establish a connection between parallel processes, sub-processes and process variants. The result is a comprehensive navigation platform in which you can find every piece of information and every document in the right place.

That is why good process descriptions are important

‍If you follow all of these points, you will on the one hand maximize the benefits of your management system for your colleagues' everyday work; at the same time, you will minimize maintenance costs. Both points are decisive for all employees to actively participate in the documentation and increase its benefits even more: If everyone brings a piece of wood to the campfire, then everyone benefits from a big fire. Or, in our case, from a process-oriented knowledge portal that is constantly growing. Certification becomes an addition to a living management system and is no longer the only raison d'être of centralistically maintained documentary documentation.