Do I Need To Write it Down?
Five good reasons for NOT writing it down
- You never need to take a break.
You never need a holiday and you will never be sick, so no-one will ever need to fill in for you. This means you will never have to write down what you do during work hours, or provide instructions on how you perform any of the tasks that you do at work.
- You don’t care if your business retires when you retire.
How will your business survive if all the business know-how is locked inside your head? If you and your business are synonymous and that’s how you want it to be, then that’s a good reason for not writing down your business processes and procedures.
- You love a good dispute.
A client who won’t pay, or an employee who won’t follow instructions, or a colleague never remembers what they agreed to do – you love them all. It gives you a wonderful opportunity to get into a dispute, or a great opportunity to moan to anyone who cares. If you love a meaty dispute, you will not want to document agreements and have them countersigned.
- You love re-inventing the wheel.
You love problem solving. It doesn’t matter if it takes you a while, or if the result is not quite perfect. You just like the challenge. It doesn’t matter what the job is, you want to do it your way. If this describes you, you certainly won’t want to find any instructions on your shared drive at work.
- You are the expert and you don’t want anyone trespassing on your patch.
You are not into sharing your knowledge. After all, your job might not be so secure if someone else knows what you do. You absolutely do not believe that that two heads are better than one. If you do not write anything down, you will have eternal job security.
Think about it
If you are serious about your business and about working efficiently, documenting your business rules, processes and procedures is a no-brainer. Good business documentation adds value as it captures your business knowledge and makes it accessible, and significantly reduces risk.
This article was written by Ruth Hamilton, WritersInc Ltd. We specialise in writing standard operating procedures, online help, and designing and developing training guides.
Call Ruth on 579 2641 or email her at ruth@writersinc.co.nz