How to write an SOP people actually follow

What an SOP is (and isn’t)

A standard operating procedure is a written set of steps for doing a recurring task the same way every time. It is not a policy (the rule) or a process map (the big picture). It’s the “click here, then here” that lets someone do the job without asking.

The five parts every SOP needs

• Title and purpose: “How to approve a supplier invoice”, plus one sentence on why it matters.
• Scope and owner: who does it, when, and who keeps the SOP up to date.
• Before you start: access, tools or information the reader needs.
• Numbered steps: one action per step, starting with a verb, with a screenshot where the reader has to find something on screen.
• Checks and exceptions: what “done” looks like, and what to do when something goes wrong.

Write steps the way people read

• One action per step. “Click Approve” beats “Review and then approve or reject the invoice as appropriate”.
• Name what’s on screen. Use the button’s exact label in bold.
• Show, don’t describe. A screenshot with the button highlighted answers “where is it?” instantly.
• Put warnings before the step, not after. Nobody reads a warning after they’ve deleted something.

The fastest way: record it once

Writing an SOP by hand means doing the task, stopping to screenshot every step, cropping, typing and formatting. That’s why SOPs never get written. With a screen-to-guide tool like Startt, you do the task once while it records; it captures a screenshot every time the screen changes, highlights what you clicked, blurs private data, and writes the numbered steps. You then edit the wording instead of starting from a blank page.

Keep it alive

• Review every SOP on a schedule, quarterly for anything customer- or money-related.
• Update it the moment a tool changes; re-recording one step takes minutes.
• Put the SOP where the work happens: linked from the tool, the ticket template or the checklist.

Free SOP templates

Start from a proven structure: employee onboarding, invoice approval, month-end close, or browse all templates.