The Value of Documenting Processes
I would like to share the benefits of how documenting processes has improved our team productivity and knowledge transfer.
In my career I've worked for different companies and roles and I've found the following similar pattern. You start a new position which could include managing a new team, building a new product, maintaining an existing portfolio of applications or all the above.
You want to ramp up as fast as possible, since there is already a demand for results. So, you start looking for all the information available of the projects that you will be working on. There might be a lot, some or no documentation.
Then, you talk with the current team to get the insights of the project. Unfortunately, there is too much tribal knowledge and one or two people understands the process. In the worst-case scenario, they are no longer in the company.
Now you are in a situation where you must deliver results soon, there isn't a lot of documentation of how the process works and you must coordinate your work and your team. I don't even want to mention if there is an unexpected production issue within the few weeks you are new to the job.
So, I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to understand from the ground up the process of the projects I will be leading or working on. I was doing all these while working on the projects and managing the team, the difference is that I was documenting at the same time. Here are the key findings:
- There were a lot of inconsistencies on the way the process should work, so it was hard to predict when and how a process should work
- There was duplication of work because there wasn't a lot of visibility of the whole picture
- A few key teams or members know how to do the processes from beginning to end; if anyone of them left the company, then it was hard to do the knowledge transfer
- There was a high level of stress on the quality of the product since there wasn't a standardization
- Knowledge hoarding was preventing full visibility of the processes
It took me a couple of months to create basic documentation while doing my everyday work. I would analyze my notes often, questioning them and making changes to the way things were done.
These has paid off in a huge way: our team productivity increased, and we were able to predict the when, the who and the how since we have a standardized process. We can communicate among each other and teams on what our standards are and the expectations.
I am confident that a new team member can ramp up on new and current projects faster. It leveled the playing field for everyone in the team, since there wasn't any more knowledge hoarding that prevented members to excel due to lack of information.
Members of the team were excited to improve existing practices that didn't provide any value once they were reviewed as a result of documentation.
How does documenting processes look like? It should provide enough information and visibility of how a certain process works so a qualified member of the team can do it. That's it — it could be as simple as a couple of paragraphs or a few pages. The key is that it should be easy to read, it should have a format and a description.
Where should it be located? It should be available for everyone in the team in a central location and you should keep referring to it when doing your work.
Does that mean that I will be just documenting for several months before delivering results? No, it means that you will be doing your work and documenting at the same time. You will be gathering as much information and analysis in that document so you can review it and iterate over and over while you do your work.
How can I spread the culture of documenting, standardizing and analyzing processes? Start today on your current projects and share the benefits with your team. You will be amazed when you take a step back and review them all the improvements that you can start making today.
Conclusion
Documenting processes gave our team insights about how we are doing our current processes and an opportunity to review them for improvement. It provided predictability and standardization to achieve the highest quality in times of high volume of work. It helped anyone from the team to ramp up when the project needed additional resources. It gave voice to everyone that already knew how to improve the process and needed a platform. The result of documenting a process should be meaningful, relevant and useful for everyone in the team.