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Use case · Operations

Your best people’s know-how, captured before it leaves the business

In most businesses there are one or two tasks that only one person fully understands. When that person is on leave, the work waits. When someone new joins, they shadow that colleague for a week and adopt whichever habits they happen to observe. There may be a procedure document somewhere, written years ago and relied upon by no one.

The key is to produce those procedures without asking your experts to write them. Each expert explains how they carry out the task, by screen share or on a walk round the site, and the conversation becomes a draft procedure and checklist. The process owner approves it, and it is given a review date so that it remains current.

At a glance

The problem

Know-how held by one person

The build

Process & SOP Writer

How long

Typically 4–8 weeks

You would measure

Time to train a new starter

Owners approve every procedure. A competent person signs off any safety or legal step.

Where the risk lies

Only one person knows

When they are absent, the work waits. If they leave, the knowledge leaves with them.

Training by shadowing

New starters copy whatever they happen to observe, good habits and bad alike.

Procedures that are not read

Lengthy documents, years out of date, that people stopped consulting long ago.

Questioning each step before documenting it

Documenting a process fixes it in place, so we begin by establishing which processes work well enough to retain. There is little value in carefully documenting a process that consists largely of workarounds and re-keying. It is better to redesign it first and document it afterwards.

Today

  • Ask whoever knows
  • Shadow them for a week
  • Rely on old documents that nobody trusts
  • Each new starter repeats the same mistakes

Redesigned

  • A priority list of processes, each with an owner
  • A walkthrough with the expert, recorded and transcribed, using dummy data
  • Each step questioned: does it need to exist?
  • A draft procedure and checklist for the expert to review and the owner to approve
  • Review dates, so that procedures remain current

Responsibilities

The agent

  • Converts a walkthrough into a draft procedure and checklist
  • Flags gaps and accounts that do not agree
  • Questions steps that may not need to exist
  • Keeps everything marked as draft until it is approved

Your people

  • Explain how they carry out the task (experts)
  • Approve every procedure and decide which steps to remove (owners)
  • Sign off any safety or legal step (a competent person)
  • Keep procedures current

How success is measured

Faster delivery

time to train a new starter.

Better quality

errors and rework on documented processes.

Capacity created

processes that more than one person can carry out.

Time saved

hours experts spend answering “how do I…?”

The build behind it: Process & SOP Writer

A quick-win build. The standard build covers up to 10 priority procedures, each approved, with an owner and a review date, and equips your team to write the remainder themselves. During the pilot your team writes one procedure independently, so that you can be confident the approach works without our involvement.

How long

Typically 4–8 weeks

Investment

from £5,000 + VAT

Licences

Purchased directly by you

After handover

Your named owner operates it, with the Managed service if required

Questions about writing procedures and SOPs

If your question is not answered here, please email hello@teamagentic.co.uk and we will reply promptly.

Do our experts have to write anything?

No. They explain how they carry out the task, usually in a walkthrough of 45 to 90 minutes, and the draft is prepared from that.

What about safety or legal steps?

These retain the wording of their original source and are flagged for a competent person to sign off. The build does not create safety or legal content of its own.

Will it simply document a flawed process?

Each step is questioned first. If a process consists largely of workarounds, we will recommend Process redesign instead.

Process redesign →

Will it secure ISO certification for us?

No. It produces clear procedures, which will assist, but we do not provide certification or audits.

More use cases

Operations

The same questions, every day

Answers drawn from your approved procedures and policies.

Read the use case →

Operations

Actions lost between meetings

Records and follow-ups, issued the same day.

Read the use case →

People

Each vacancy creates hours of administration

Adverts and interview packs, prepared for your hiring managers.

Read the use case →

Platforms we work with

The right AI platform for each build, licensed to you

We recommend the AI platform that suits each build, or use one you already have if it meets our minimum standards. Either way, you hold the licence, so the account and the data stay yours. The results arrive in your own email, files, CRM and finance systems, where your team can check them.

AI platforms

Business software

See the full list by category

Workplace Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Notion, Miro

Files SharePoint & OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box

CRM and sales HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, monday.com

Finance Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Stripe, Power BI

Projects Asana, Trello, ClickUp, Jira, Confluence, Airtable

Customers and marketing Zendesk, Intercom, Mailchimp, Shopify, WooCommerce

Automation Zapier, Make, n8n

Product names and logos belong to their owners. We show them because we can work with these tools. It doesn’t mean we’re partners with, or endorsed by, any of them.

Next step

Begin with a free 20-minute call

Tell us which task is costing your team the most time, and we will discuss it with you, free of charge. You will receive a clear answer on whether we can help, and a sensible next step in either case. If you would like a more thorough assessment before deciding, the AI Quick Scan provides a 90-minute conversation about your business and a two-page summary of up to five opportunities.

  • One of us will reply personally to arrange the call
  • No obligation and no subsequent sales sequence
  • We use your details only to arrange the call (privacy notice)