How to Write SOP Steps People Can Follow

• Start with a verb, such as Open, Select, Enter or Check. The verb tells the reader what to do before they read anything else.
• Keep to one action per step. If a step contains two actions, the reader may do one and miss the other.
• Name things exactly as they appear on the screen or the equipment, including capital letters, so the reader can match them.
• Say what done looks like: the message that appears, the reading on a gauge, the status that changes.
• Number the steps. Numbers help people keep their place and let reviewers point to a step precisely.

A warning belongs directly before the step it protects, because people act as they read. Keep it short and specific: what can go wrong, and what to do instead. When a task branches, state the condition first, for example “If the refund is above the approval limit, go to step 7”, or move the branch into a small decision table. A long branch is often a sign that the task is really two SOPs.

Write for the least experienced person who is allowed to do the task. Leave out what every such person already knows, such as how to sign in, and include everything that differs from what they would guess. If a step needs a screenshot to be understood, add one and hide any personal or confidential data in it. Detail that only applies at one workstation or screen belongs in a work instruction linked from the SOP.

Yes. Capture-first tools record each click and write a step for it, which is a quick way to a first draft. The draft still needs work: removing clicks that only applied to the person recording, adding the warnings and checks the recording could not see, and explaining steps whose purpose is not obvious. Haiku's Head of Product wrote in May 2026 that a captured workflow still needs about 5 to 10 minutes of human review.

Ask someone who has not done the task to follow the SOP while you watch, without helping. Each time they hesitate, ask a question or do something you did not expect, note the step. Fix those steps and run the test once more with a different person. This is the review stage of the SOP lifecycle in its simplest form.