I gave this presentation on April 20th, 2013 in Berlin at the Dynamite Circle Conference. The topic was how standard operating procedures can help boost overall productivity and the takeaways from implementing this at my company. The basic take aways are as follows: - One of the things I heard from attendees was "Cam that's great but you have 20+ employees. I am a solopreneur". If you have no employees you certainly must have contractors, VAs, a great aunt or someone that helps you fulltime or parttime. Written procedures are critical to ensure that these folks are productive. - If it is something that you repeat, the following must be done: Document the process Automate it OR Delegate it - The two most important tasks of an entrepreneur are to “create” and “connect”. There is no place or time for repetitive tasks. - Employees need to be given appropriate time to let this concept sink in. They are going to look at is as something to add to their already overloaded todo list. Creating these procedures can seem daunting (How do you eat an elephant?) - Have your team read Work the System - Don’t tell them how you are going to implement the system. Get input on how it should be done. Understand internal skills/needs/constraints.

1. EXUMADOCS
Work the System @Work
CAM COLLINS
@CAMCOLLINS

5. If it is a process that you repeat the following
must be done:
Document the process
Automate OR Delegate
Two most important tasks of an entrepreneur
are to “create” and “connect”. There is no place
or time for repetitive tasks.

6. •Strategic Objective -- this is like our
Declaration of Independence. It is our mandate
for a better future. It gives direction and
prevents flailing.
•Core Principles -- this is our Constitution. It
contains a set of guidelines for future decision
making. Its a more verbose set of our original
core values.
•Working Procedures -- these are
essentially the rules of the game (our Laws).
Working procedures for each department.

7. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Wordpress - must be available on the internet
but users must authenticate
Document Management plug-in to
Support a workflow
Version documents

8. ExumaDocs page (not logged in)

9. ExumaDocs page (logged in)

10. CORE Docs page

11. Strategic
Objective

12. SOPs
as
Posts

13. SOP
for
Billing

14. Plugin stack

15. Only works in the
backend. No front end
support. Had to create a
child theme ofTwenty
Twelve and customize
header.php, page.php, etc.

16. WP Document Revisions

17. WP Document Revisions - workflow states

18. WP Document Revisions - Doc edit

19. • Employees need to be given appropriate time to let this concept
sink in
• They are going to look at is as something to add to their already
overloaded todo list
• The task on the outset seems daunting (How do you eat an
elephant?)
• Have your team read the book!!
• Don’t tell them how you are going to implement the system
• Get input
• Understand internal skills/needs/restrictions
• We weren’t leveraging our customer documentation resources
and processes
LESSONS LEARNED

20. • Workflow “ain’t all that”
• Adding SOPs as Wordpress posts didn’t jive with my team
• Windows/Word/Exchange centric
• WP only used by me and one other person..so...
• Using WP was going to suck the wrong resource into the
administration of the site
• What did work came through employee input
LESSONS LEARNED

21. WHAT WORKED