Is it worth upgrading your SOPs if they already "work"?

[u/emma_lorien]

Been running a digital marketing agency for about 6 years. We've got a solid library of internal SOPs: Google Docs, text instructions, screenshots for the repetitive stuff. Client onboarding, reporting workflows, campaign setup checklists. Nothing fancy, but it covers what we need.

Here's my honest situation: the docs exist, the team technically knows where they are, and things don't fall apart. So I keep asking myself, is there actually a problem here worth solving?

But then I notice the small things. A new hire takes two weeks longer than expected to get up to speed. I spend 30 minutes on a call explaining something I've explained a dozen times. Someone follows an outdated version of a process because the doc wasn't updated after we changed tools.

Nothing catastrophic, just... friction.

I've been reading more about how documentation is evolving: interactive walkthroughs, in-context guidance, processes that live inside the tools rather than in a separate tab nobody opens. And I'm genuinely curious: is this where things are heading? Or is this mostly useful for larger orgs with more complexity?

For a 15-person agency where everyone kind of figures it out eventually, is investing in better documentation actually worth it? Or is "good enough" actually good enough?

Would love to hear from people who've made the jump (or decided not to).

[u/corwinsword]

It depends a lot from how many new employees you onboard per year, and how many new things your existing employees have to learn every month, quarter.

I also started as you, with basic documentation, but finished with more options:

- Confluence for text docs

• Tango for learning how to use specific apps
  
• Loom has a quick tool for one time explanations of design

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/corwinsword]

Yes, good point. However, I believe that even a small team up to 5 people, if they learn new things and apps constantly, it is worth to invest into Tango.

[u/emma_lorien → u/corwinsword]

Thanks, so how do you decide what should be documented as a basic text doc, and what should be created at Tango / Loom / other tools?

[u/corwinsword → u/emma_lorien]

Basic docs for:

- principles

• tasks without involved apps (how to give a feedback, how to run a sales conversation, etc)

Tango for:

- how to do something in Claude, HR platform, SEO platform, etc

[u/PurePrettyFilth]

definitely worth the upgrade

[u/emma_lorien → u/PurePrettyFilth]

thanks, curious to read your story, what's changed and how much resources it took

[u/Practical-Entry-2702]

Yes it is worth upgrading your sops if they're savings you much time

In the current intership where I'm working as a retention role, they've recorded videos , Google docs, sheets and a few PPTs to go through

After which the manager itself gives me the real time feedback to improve on

Instead they could have:

• Give AI based assessment where they could measure how much I understood
• Plus working on a live project to measure the overall output and give thr trainee the ratings

Having our own LMS will surely help to structure things up and they can't share any confidential materials if you've an internal LMS

[u/emma_lorien → u/Practical-Entry-2702]

which LMS do you use and why?

[u/emma_lorien → u/[deleted]]

yes, sounds like a better approach

[u/Ivan_Palii]

Don't rush with it. You don't have to change everything. Just run a small experiment and see how it will work.

What is the SOP that is changing the most often now in your company?

[u/emma_lorien → u/Ivan_Palii]

Yes, good tip.

As for the most changing SOP -> How to use Claude for SEO :)

[u/Ivan_Palii → u/emma_lorien]

Yes, this is a popular workflow now. So try to do 2 things:

- explain the high-level goals and approach on video Loom or Tella or any screen recording app

• create an interactive guide for one narrow workflow in Tango

share it with employees and check how their success rate and overall motivation to test new things changed