How to write a standard operating procedure your staff will actually want to use

In short: How to write a standard operating procedure your staff will actually want to use: start with the people who do the job, not at your desk. Watch them or have them talk you through it, write the steps in the order they really happen, then check, sign off and keep it current. Done well, it cuts the mistakes and rework that eat your profit. Use our free SOP interview sheet and checklist to get every step out of your expert’s head.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a written, step-by-step description of how a routine job is done in your business, so it gets done the same way, to the same standard, whoever is doing it.

Written by Mike Armstrong. Last reviewed: 23 October 2026.

I learned what a good procedure feels like on a submarine, where the procedures were written by top engineers and a wrong step wasn’t an option. I learned how to build one as a curriculum developer for Lockheed Martin. Since then I’ve written them for a maritime security company, a balloon factory and my own online business, and the method in this guide is the one I’ve used every time.

It’s Monday morning, and your new starter is handed the procedure for the job: twelve pages, written years ago by someone who has never actually done it. She reads it twice. Half of it doesn’t match what’s in front of her, and the other half uses words nobody in the building has ever said out loud. So she does what new starters tend to do and asks Dave.

Let me introduce you to Dave. Dave’s the one who’s been there for years, knows absolutely everything and could do the job in his sleep. He’s friendly, very practical and never has a bad word to say about the place, and in eleven years nobody has ever once thanked him for any of it.

By Friday, the procedure is propping up the wobbly table in the staff room, which is the most useful it’s ever been. A month later, the same mistake happens again, and everyone agrees SOPs don’t work.

They do. The trouble is how they’re written. And the fix isn’t a gift you’re born with. It’s a method, anyone can learn it, and by the end of this guide, you’ll have it.

In this guide, you’ll learn why so many SOPs never get used, the eight-step method for writing one people actually want to use, what a good SOP contains, and how to keep it current, with three real examples along the way. And stick around to the end, because Dave has one last piece of advice, and it’s the best in the whole guide.

Why so many SOPs never get used

Ask Dave where the procedure lives and he’ll point vaguely at a shared drive, a ring binder and possibly the ceiling. That isn’t Dave’s fault. It’s what tends to happen to an SOP that was written to tick a box rather than to help someone do the job.

And it isn’t just a small-business grumble. Researchers who surveyed staff at German clinical trial centres found that, with a question about their daily work, more would ask a colleague (18.4%) than read the relevant SOP (13.8%), according to a study published in Methods of Information in Medicine. These are people in a field that runs on procedures, and they still choose Dave.

Smaller businesses tell the same story. A survey of German dairy farmers, presented to the American Dairy Science Association in 2017, found that 41% lacked the time and 42% lacked the know-how to write SOPs, and 66% agreed their staff did the same tasks in different ways. Tellingly, 81% of the managers admitted they sometimes got annoyed that jobs weren’t done the way they wanted. If you run a business, you’ll recognise every one of those numbers, cows or no cows.

The cost goes well beyond irritation. The UK Health and Safety Executive’s guidance, Revitalising procedures, cites a US study of refinery incidents in which procedures were the most common human factors root cause, behind 22% of all incidents. Its reasons why people skip procedures will sound familiar: they’re out of date, they’re hard to follow, or there’s an easier way to do the job.

There’s a newer trap too. Search for how to write an SOP, and you’ll find many of the guides are written by companies that sell SOP software. That’s no criticism; selling software is their job. But it means the advice tends to start with the tool, when the tool is the last thing you need. A badly written procedure is still badly written in a clever app; it just looks smarter while nobody reads it. Dave has watched three of these apps arrive with great fanfare. He raised an eyebrow at each one and carried on doing the job the way he always had. My rule is simple: buy the tool that fits the system, never build the system around a tool.

I saw the same problem from the other side when I set up my own online retail business. Plenty of people in that world talk about SOPs, so I went looking for good examples. Many of the ones shared online simply weren’t fit for purpose: too vague to follow, pitched at the wrong level, steps in the wrong order, or so stuffed with detail you couldn’t find the instructions. People copy them, the copies often don’t work, and another business decides SOPs are a waste of time, while still telling anyone who’ll listen that they’re a great idea.

Before we fix any of that, it helps to be clear about what an SOP actually is, because it often gets muddled up with two close cousins.

SOP, work instruction or policy: what’s the difference?

People use these words as if they mean the same thing, which is how you end up with a “policy” that’s really a shopping list. Here’s the plain version.

In a small business the lines often blur, and that’s fine. What matters is that each document does its one job well.

So that’s what an SOP is. Next, here’s where my way of writing them comes from.

Where my method comes from

I learned what a good procedure feels like long before I ever wrote one. On a submarine, the procedures were written by top engineers, because a wrong step wasn’t an option, and popping out for a second opinion tended to involve ingesting copious amounts of seawater. When you rely on procedures like that, you quickly learn how to spot the difference between one written for you and one written at you.

I learned how to build one as a curriculum developer for Lockheed Martin, using what’s known as the systems approach to training. The principle is beautifully simple. You study exactly what the person doing the job actually does, you list every task, and the training is only complete when every task on that list is covered. Some tasks crop up again and again across different jobs, and some are unique to one, but nothing gets missed, because the list comes from the real job rather than from someone’s memory of it.

I’ve used the same thinking ever since, scaled down for businesses that don’t have a training department, and often don’t even have time to scratch their nose.

What the official guidance says, and what it misses

You don’t have to take my word for any of this, because the official guidance agrees on the basics.

• The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Guidance for Preparing Standard Operating Procedures says SOPs should be written by the people who actually do the work, tested by someone other than the writer, then approved, numbered, version controlled, kept on a master list and updated whenever the procedure changes.
• The UK Health and Safety Executive says the people who use a procedure should help write and revise it, ideally many of them rather than one person, so they feel it’s theirs. It adds that the right level of detail depends on how much an error matters, how complex the task is, how often it’s done and how experienced the user is.
• ISO 10013:2021, ISO’s own guidance on documented information for quality management systems, offers recommendations, rather than requirements, for keeping documents and records under control, and it works alongside other management systems too.

All of this is good, sensible advice, and it’s strong on what goes into an SOP. Where it says far less is how to get people to want to use it: how to get a wary employee to tell you what they really do, how to ask a manager for their view without it feeling like an audit, and how to get the owner to genuinely back it in front of the team. That’s the operator’s side of the job, and it’s what the rest of this guide is about.

What a good SOP is worth to your business

Before we get to the how, it’s worth being clear about the why. A good SOP pays everyone back, though not in the same way.

• For the owner, it means fewer costly mistakes, less firefighting and more profit. A business that runs without them constantly stepping in is also likely to be worth more if they ever come to sell it.
• For the manager, it means less time supervising, correcting and answering the same question for the fourth time this week.
• For the people doing the job, it means confidence, no guesswork and no blame. And Dave finally gets his lunch break.

Who should write your SOPs?

So we know what a good SOP is worth. The next question is who should write it, and that depends on the size of your business.

If you’re a one-person business, you’re the doer and the expert, so you write it, then check it against any law, regulations and guidelines that apply. If you can, ask a friend who works in the same industry to cast an eye over it. A fresh pair of eyes spots what you’ve long since stopped seeing. The usual triggers are taking on your first employee, wanting to get everything out of your head and onto paper, or a customer who wants to see your procedures before awarding a contract.

If you’ve got a small team, up to around 20 people, the owner usually still writes it, but with the people who do the work rather than for them. Alternatively, hand it to a trusted, experienced member of the team. Yes, that’s often Dave, and he’ll do a cracking job, provided someone finally says thank you.

If you’ve got around 20 to 50 people or more, the owner usually asks one person inside the business to take it on as a proper role. That person then interviews the owner and the people who actually do the work, across every team that’s involved.

What about consultants? A good consultant will follow much the same approach, and some do it very well. The advantage of having someone inside the business writing it, however, is that they already know the people and the work, and the knowledge stays put when the consultant goes home.

The method: how to write an SOP in eight steps

Whoever writes it, the method is the same. So let’s look at how you turn what people know into something written down. The first four steps gather the knowledge, the next three check it with the right people, and the last makes sure nothing has slipped through.

1. Explain first

Start with the boss. Before you watch anyone work, get the owner’s assurance that nothing you discover on the shop floor, in the office or in the yard will lead to repercussions for anyone, and ask them to tell everyone that themselves. Without that promise, coming from the top, you’re unlikely to see the job as it’s really done.

Then, before you ask a single question, tell people what you’re doing and why. Say it plainly: this isn’t a witch hunt, nobody’s being caught out, and the point is to make the job easier and the business better. Skip this step and the answers you get are likely to be shorter, more guarded and less complete.

2. Borrow Dave’s brain (he’ll want it back)

Watch the job being done, or sit down with the person who does it and say, “Talk me through it, from the very first thing you do to the very last.” Write down everything, especially the bits they rush through because they’re obvious. Better still, if they don’t mind, film it on your phone. People talk faster than anyone can write, and a recording lets you write the steps up properly afterwards, pausing as often as you like. Dave may want to sort his hair out first.

While you watch, keep reminding them it isn’t a test. You’re there to make their job easier, not to mark it, and you need them on your side. Think about safety too. Someone who’s nervous about being watched is more likely to make a slip, so stand well clear, stay quiet during the tricky bits, and save your questions until it’s safe to ask them.

Above all, once they’ve started, don’t interrupt, however tempting it is and even if you’re lost. Let them work through the job in their own way, because breaking their train of thought is the quickest way to lose the very steps you came for. Note your questions and ask them at the end. If something still isn’t clear and the job isn’t too long, ask them to run through it again. The obvious bits are often exactly what a new starter doesn’t know. And if the person you’re interviewing is Dave, put the kettle on. He’s been waiting years for someone to ask.

3. Check with an expert where the doer’s knowledge runs out

The person doing the job knows how it is done, but not always how it should be done under the law, the regulations, the safety rules or the manufacturer’s guidance. Where that matters, check the draft against a trusted supplier, the equipment manual, a trade body or the regulator’s guidance. At the maritime security company, my expert was my boss, who knew ship security inside out. In the balloon factory, I was sitting next to Per Lindstrand. You won’t always have a world record holder to hand, but you’ll find the equipment manual is surprisingly patient. And if neither of those helps, Dave is probably hanging around the corner.

4. Break it into tasks

List every step needed, in the order it really happens. That isn’t necessarily the order in the manual, or the order the boss thinks it happens. It’s the order it actually happens on a busy Tuesday.

Some jobs are intricate, with dozens of small steps, and recording every one of them can feel laborious. Do it anyway. Skipping a single step could be enough to make the whole SOP fail at the worst possible moment, so be pedantic here. Time spent getting this right is likely to pay you back many times over further down the line.

5. The new-starter test

Hand the draft back to the person who does the job and say, “I’d value your expert view on this: could a new starter do the job from it?” The wording matters. You’re not questioning what they gave you; you’re showing you value it. People who feel valued are far more likely to tell you what’s missing, while people who feel tested tend to tell you it’s fine. With Dave, watch the eyebrow. If it goes up, chances are something’s missing.

6. The manager test

Next, show it to their manager. Does it meet their expectations, and does it support what the business is trying to achieve? This is where “how we do it” meets “how we want it done”, and the gap between the two is often where the money’s leaking.

7. Sign-off at the top

Finally, the owner or boss approves it. In a small business that might be a five-minute conversation, but it still matters, because teams tend to take their lead from the top.

8. Finish only when every task is covered

Go back to your list from step 4 and check that every task is in the SOP. If one isn’t, the SOP isn’t finished, however good it looks.

Free printable SOP interview sheet and checklist

Reading the room

Those eight steps are the easy part. The harder part is people. Whenever you sit down with someone, whether you’re watching them work in step 2 or asking for their view in steps 5 and 6, they’re telling you two things at once: how the job is done, and how they feel about you writing it down. The second matters as much as the first, because someone who’s uneasy about the whole exercise may leave out the very steps you need. In my experience, people tend to fall into one of three camps.

• On side: they offer detail freely and suggest improvements. Make them your champion and your first tester.
• Wary: short answers, plenty of “it depends”, and a worry that this is really about them. Reassure them it’s about the job, not them, and show them what’s in it for them.
• Resistant: knowledge held back, problems played down, or a quiet attempt to steer the whole thing into a ditch. Ask what worries them and take it seriously, because there’s often a good reason. Give them ownership of part of the SOP. If they still block it, that’s what the owner’s backing is for.

With anyone wary or resistant, one small move works wonders: before you ask what’s bothering them, put your pen and notebook down. It turns an interview into a conversation, and people tend to tell you far more when they can see nothing’s being written down.

It also pays to match your questions to the person. The person doing the job is your expert witness, but the owner is your sponsor. So rather than asking the owner to explain what an SOP is for, ask what would make the whole exercise worth their while.

If you’re the expert writing your own SOP

Everything so far assumes you’re writing down someone else’s job. Sometimes, though, the expert is you: the one-person business, the owner who built the process, or Dave finally putting pen to paper. Then the method turns round.

That’s how I worked as a curriculum developer for Lockheed Martin. I was the expert in the job being taught, so I wrote down, step by step, every single thing a person needed to do to get from start to finish, whether it was a practical task or a piece of knowledge to learn. Then I handed it to a colleague who did the same job and asked two questions: “Did that work for you? Have I missed anything?”

Those two questions matter because experts skip steps they no longer notice. After years of doing a job, the small moves become automatic, and automatic moves don’t make it onto paper. A colleague following your words exactly falls straight into the gaps, which is exactly what you want them to do before a new starter does.

Each course then went through more checks, including a reader from a completely different field, who caught the jargon the rest of us had stopped hearing. You won’t need that many checks, but a second reader is worth it on any SOP where a mistake would be costly.

Here’s the method, scaled down for a small business:

1. Write every step, however obvious. If you catch yourself thinking “everyone knows that”, write it down anyway.
2. Hand it to a colleague who does the same job. If you work alone, a trusted friend in your industry will do. Ask them to follow it exactly as written, not the way they’d normally do it.
3. Ask the two questions: “Did that work for you? Have I missed anything?” Then stop talking and listen.
4. Fix the gaps, and where a mistake would be costly or unsafe, let someone from outside the job read it for jargon.
5. Finish as before: sign it off (step 7) and check every task is covered (step 8).

It’s humbling the first time. You’ll be surprised what you left out, and so will Dave when he writes his.

What goes in a good SOP

Once you’ve gathered the knowledge and got people on side, you need to shape it into something people can actually use. A good SOP is shorter than you’d think and more useful than you’d expect. Here’s what it needs.

1. A number. Adopt a numbering system that suits your business; there’s no single right way. The point is that every document can be found and nothing gets lost.
2. A plain title that says what it does, such as “How to upload a new product to our online store”.
3. An opening sentence that sets out the job: “This SOP gives you the steps to get a new design live in the store.”
4. When it applies, and when it doesn’t.
5. What you need before you start, such as equipment, information and logins.
6. The steps, and only the steps that have to be done, in order, as short plain commands, pitched at the reader’s level. More on that in a moment.
7. “Must” versus “helpful”. Make it obvious which steps are compulsory and which are just tips. Put any safety or costly-mistake warnings at the top and again at the step itself, and where a law or rule applies, name it at that step, so the reader knows why it can’t be skipped.
8. A check that it was done right before the job is handed on, plus what records it produces and where they’re kept.
9. Two lines that make it a support rather than a rulebook: “If you get stuck, come back to me”, and “If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell the SOP owner.”
10. Background information and any unusual words in a section at the back, so they don’t clutter the steps.
11. Document control. That means the owner’s name, plus the number, version and date on every page, all listed on your master document list. ISO 9001 calls this document control, and it’s one of the things an assessor will ask to see.
12. Related documents. In a more complex business, a short list of related documents sits near the front, straight after the document control details. A simple business may not need it.

Write to the reader’s level

This is where a lot of SOPs go wrong. They’re pitched at the writer’s level rather than the reader’s. An expert writing for themselves skips the steps that feel obvious, leaving a newcomer stranded, while an SOP written for an imaginary beginner buries an experienced reader in detail they don’t need. Here’s an example of getting the level right. The job is to total the week’s sales in a spreadsheet.

For someone who’s confident with spreadsheets, the step is simply:

Total column D using SUM.

For someone who left school without ever using a spreadsheet, the same step becomes:

Click the empty cell under the last figure in column D. Type =SUM( then select the figures from top to bottom. Type ) and press Enter. Check the total looks about right before you save.

It’s the same job with the same result, but a completely different level of detail, and the only thing that changed is what the reader already knew. Pitch it too low and the expert is likely to skip your SOP because it feels patronising. Pitch it too high and you may well find the newcomer adding everything up on a calculator and typing in the answer. We’ve all met them, and some of us have been them.

You don’t usually need to list the skills a reader must have as a prerequisite for using the SOP, because you hired them knowing what they can do. Just write to that level. The exception is where a mistake would be dangerous or expensive. Then say plainly what training or experience they need first.

Bad SOP versus good SOP

If you’d rather start from a properly structured document than a blank page, our SOP Template gives you the layout, so your time goes into the content.

Does it work? Three examples from my own experience

That’s the theory. Here’s what it looks like in practice, with three examples from my own working life, in three very different businesses I helped run.

A job I’d never done

As Deputy Director of Operations for a maritime security company, I had to build the procedures for armed security teams travelling on merchant ships. I’d never done that job myself, so I did exactly what this guide describes and interviewed the people who had. They talked me through the whole journey: flying to Sri Lanka, collecting their equipment from the armoury, boarding, the transit and disembarking, then handing the equipment back and moving on to the next ship or home. I studied the business that supported them, read up on maritime law and shipping, and checked everything with my boss, who knew ship security inside out.

The guards loved the procedures, and not because they enjoy paperwork. Their job is tightly regulated under maritime law, with plenty of places it can go wrong. The procedures kept them on the straight and narrow, so they could get on with the job knowing they were on the right side of the law, and gave them everything they needed to record and report, and to know exactly who to contact for assistance or information. That system later went on to accredited certification with LRQA, and it helped the company win the kind of lucrative contracts that keep coming back.

Four weeks instead of four months

In December 1997, the balloon for Richard Branson’s round-the-world attempt broke free from its moorings in Morocco and drifted off, unmanned, into Algeria. A replacement was needed fast, and the production manager at Lindstrand Balloons in Oswestry had just left. So I stepped in as production manager, working alongside Per Lindstrand.

The previous balloon had taken around four months to build. We built the replacement in four weeks. There was no magic in it. I studied the systems the factory already had, then interviewed everyone in the organisation, from the engineers and the people on the factory floor to quality control, the accountants and the lady who made the tea. Once they were on side, we found the weak spots and fixed them as problems came up, right down to a new coated Kevlar cloth that had to be made in the United States and rushed to the UK. The team did the building; the method simply gave them a way to go faster without compromising on quality, which was essential, because the crew’s lives depended on it. When the crew finally launched in December 1998, they flew for seven days and more than halfway round the world.

The remote assistant who knew exactly what to do

This one’s ordinary, and it’s the one you’re likeliest to recognise. In my online retail business, remote assistants (VAs), many of them in the Philippines, uploaded new products to the store. I wrote one SOP for the job, SOP 1001, and every new assistant got it on day one. It took me about two hours to write, and it paid that back many times over.

The best part wasn’t the steps themselves but the way the work flowed, which I called the Flowline. Each assistant had three folders:

• In Tray: new work arrives here, one folder per product.
• Out Tray: finished work goes here, which tells the manager it’s ready for a quality check.
• Questions Tray: anything that doesn’t look right goes here, with a quick message to the manager, who fixes it and puts it back in the In Tray.

The steps themselves built in the same safety net. Here’s how the first part read:

SOP 1001: Initial entry of a new product (extract)

1. Open the print-on-demand app from within Shopify.
2. Select “Add Products”.
3. Select “Bedding Set”.
4. Input the design name: “xxxx Duvet Cover”.
5. Select “Beige”.
6. Select “Upload Artwork”.
7. While that is uploading, add the second variant (black) by selecting “Click To Enter Variant Title And Upload”.
8. Select “Black”.
9. Select “Upload Artwork”.
10. Name the second variant “xxxx Duvet Cover 2”.
11. Add further variants if they have been provided in your In Tray.
12. After the image has uploaded, check that it looks OK, with logos within the borders of the bedding set. If you encounter any problems, stop, put the JPEG in your Questions Tray and message the manager, as the artwork may have to be redone.

People in different countries and time zones could work on their own schedules without waiting for each other, and nobody ever had to guess. The assistants loved it because they knew exactly how to do the job, and I loved it because I only had to explain it once, even when staff were rotated.

Keeping your SOPs current

Each of those SOPs was only ever as good as it was current, which brings us to the part that’s easiest to forget. An SOP can start going out of date the moment you save it. Software updates, suppliers change, Dave finally mentions the shortcut he’s been quietly using for years that would save everyone twenty minutes a day, and suddenly step 7 refers to a button that no longer exists. Keeping it current doesn’t take much, though.

• Review it whenever the job changes, whether that’s the process, the platform or a regulation.
• Set a routine review based on risk. The bigger the impact a mistake would have on profit or safety, the more often you check it. Add a quick yearly look at everything else, so nothing quietly drifts. Not sure which jobs carry the biggest risk? Our Learn page on how to create a risk register shows you how to find them.
• Let the people using it be your early warning system. Dave noticed step 7 was wrong back in March; the “tell the SOP owner” line simply gives him a way to say so.
• Withdraw old versions, so nobody works from “version 7 FINAL final” when version 9 exists.
• Keep current copies where the work is done, not in a drawer in the office of someone who left in 2019.
• Back it from the top, because a procedure the boss ignores soon becomes just a suggestion.

There’s a quiet bonus, too. A procedure that’s genuinely followed creates records, and records are exactly the evidence an ISO 9001 assessor looks for. Write your SOPs this way and you’re already part of the way to a management system that could be certified, if and when you want one.

Free download: the SOP interview sheet and checklist

To help you put all of this into practice, everything in this guide fits on two printable pages: the questions to ask the person who does the job, their manager and the owner, plus a checklist to make sure your SOP has everything it needs. No sign-up needed.

Get the free interview sheet and checklist

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between an SOP and a work instruction? An SOP describes how a whole process runs, who does what and in what order, while a work instruction tells you exactly how to do one specific task within it. Many small businesses combine the two, and that’s fine as long as each document is clear.

Which processes need an SOP? The ones that are done regularly, involve more than one person, would be costly or unsafe to get wrong, or currently live only in one person’s head. If losing Dave would stop the job, it needs an SOP.

Who should write an SOP? The person who does the job supplies the knowledge, but they don’t have to do the writing. Someone else can interview them and write it up, as long as the doer checks the draft.

How long should an SOP be? As short as possible and as long as necessary. If it’s running to many pages, it’s probably several SOPs pretending to be one.

How detailed should each step be? Detailed enough for the person who’ll use it, and no more. Match it to what they already know, and add detail wherever a mistake would be dangerous or expensive.

How long does it take to write an SOP? My product-upload SOP, with over 40 steps, took about two hours to write, plus time for the interviews and the new-starter test. Your first is likely to take longer, and your tenth less.

How often should an SOP be reviewed? Whenever the job, the equipment or a regulation changes, plus a routine check set by risk: the bigger the impact of a mistake, the more often you look at it.

Does ISO 9001 require SOPs? Not by name. ISO 9001 requires the documented information your business needs to run its processes properly, and well-written procedures are the usual way to provide it.

The short version

If you remember nothing else from this guide, remember these five things.

1. Start with the people who do the job, not at your desk.
2. Write to the reader’s level, in the order the job really happens.
3. Check it three times: with the person who does the job, their manager and the owner.
4. Keep it current, reviewing it whenever the job changes and more often where a mistake would cost more.
5. Make it a support, not a rulebook, so people want to use it.

And Dave’s advice, the one he’s kept to himself for eleven years? “Write it down while I’m still here.”

What next?

If you’re writing your first SOP, start with one job, ideally the one Dave gets asked about most. Use the free interview sheet, follow the eight steps and run the new-starter test.

If you’d like a head start, our SOP Template gives you the layout, with a worked example to copy. For one detailed task within an SOP, use our Work Instruction Template, and our procedure Essentials cover the rest. And if one SOP grows into a whole system, The ISO 9001 Certification-Ready System has every procedure, form and register ready for you to adapt, with certification there if and when you want it.

About the author

Written by Mike Armstrong, senior ISO consultant, former company director, and founder of Plain Standards. In over 30 years running companies at director level, Mike built his own management systems to drive profit long before he adopted ISO 9001, so he comes at this from the owner’s side, not the auditor’s. Plain Standards helps small and medium sized businesses get ISO certified without a consultant.