What Do We Mean By “High-quality SOPs”?
“Quality is more important than quantity,” said Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, when it comes to SOPs, quantity trumps quality. Under the pressure of regulations, most organizations end up creating hundreds of SOPs, often without paying equal attention to the quality of these documents.
But if you care about the quality of your SOPs that actually drive everyday actions, where do you start? The right place would be to honestly ask: What do the users expect from SOPs?
Basically, they don’t want very long, wordy, confusing and complicated documents. They desire SOPs that are clear, concise, and correct. Ultimately, users want to spend minimum effort and time to understand an SOP and complete the task at hand efficiently, correctly, and safely.
Considering the user expectations, what specific attributes should you aim for while writing SOPs?
Quality of SOPs: Shell and core
When users read SOPs, they experience quality at two different levels: shell and core. The shell is what users see and experience at a superficial level, and the core is what they experience at a deeper level.
At the level of a shell, a high-quality SOP is well-formatted and easy on the eyes—and not overwhelming with thin margins and densely-packed chunks of text. Also, the language used is easy to follow and understand. But having high-quality formatting and language is not enough.
Once the users are comfortable at the superficial level, they experience the document at a deeper level. At the level of core, an SOP should be clear, concise, correct, and compliant. Together, a combination of high-quality shell and core form a high-quality SOP. It’s something like a good book should have both a good cover and good substance inside.
Let’s have a closer look at each of the six attributes that form a high-quality SOP:
Shell (2 Ws)
- Well-formatted
- Well-written
Core (4 Cs)
- Clear
- Concise
- Correct
- Compliant
1. Well-formatted
Does the appearance of a document really matter? The truth is that both the looks and substance of a document are important as the two elements complement each other. If an SOP is well formatted and neatly packaged, readers can efficiently read and grasp its substance.
Typically, SOPs are cluttered and cramped, with small fonts and dense text, and the format (with narrow margins) is often far from reader-friendly. Forget about the contents first; at the basic level, an SOP should be neat and reader-friendly in appearance, so people feel like reading it.
2. Well-written
Long sentences versus short sentences? Long and complicated words versus short and simple words? Abbreviations and jargon used but not explained? The quality of language we use to explain anything directly affects the readers’ understanding.
Even if someone can create a nicely formatted SOP with good language, is it enough? Not really. You need to get the core right, which includes the following four attributes.
3. Clear
To write something clearly, one needs to have (a) clarity in own mind plus (b) the ability to explain it with the same level of precision. Do the SOPs leave the readers confused or clear about what to do? Clarity is an important dimension of high-quality SOPs.
4. Concise
How much information should be included in an SOP?
Many times, out of the urge to make SOPs as comprehensive (and impressive) as possible, authors include too much information, regardless of its direct relevance. But under time and work pressure, readers find such SOPs overwhelming, complicated and difficult to follow. And that’s a direct risk for noncompliance and audit issues.
SOPs should be concise, with due respect for users’ time constraints and specific process requirements.
5. Correct
Even if an SOP is clear and concise, it should also be correct. All the necessary steps and details should be included in the right order. Are the various figures, units and process steps accurate and precise?
6. Compliant
Finally, is the SOP compliant with the applicable internal and external quality standards, guidelines, and regulations?
At a practical level, high-quality SOPs actually mean getting right the 2 Ws (well-formatted, well-written) and 4 Cs (clear, concise, correct and compliant). As you can see, each attribute reinforces the others, making the whole greater than the sum of the parts.