How to write an SOP (with examples and a free template)

What is an SOP?

An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a written, step-by-step way to do one task the same way every time. Opening the café. Cleaning the espresso machine. Turning over a hotel room. Counting the register at night.

In a small business, an SOP has one job: to let someone who isn't you do the task the way you would. It answers the question new hires ask you twelve times a week: "How do I do this again?"

You need an SOP when a task is done by more than one person, when mistakes cost money, or when you're the only one who really knows how to do it. If a task ticks two of those boxes, write it down.

Before you start: SOP or checklist?

Both are useful, and many small teams need both. A checklist is a list of things to tick off, like the jobs in an opening routine. It works when the person already knows how to do each item and just needs to not forget any of them.

An SOP explains how to do the task, step by step, with the numbers and warnings that matter. Use an SOP for anything a new hire couldn't do correctly on their first try. A good rule: the checklist says "Backflush the espresso machine." The SOP shows how.

What to include in an SOP

A useful SOP for a small team is short and always has the same parts, so staff know where to look. Keep this order:

• A title that starts with a verb: "Count the register at close".
• Who does it and when: "Closing shift lead, after the last customer leaves".
• What they need before they start: tools, products, keys, codes.
• The steps, one action each, in the order they happen.
• "Watch out" notes on the few steps where a mistake is expensive.
• What "done" looks like, so people can check their own work.
• An owner and a review date at the top.

That's it. Skip the purpose statement, the scope section and the revision table you see in corporate SOP templates. Your team won't read them, and every extra line makes the steps harder to find on a phone.

How to write an SOP in 7 steps

1. STEP 01

   Pick one task that keeps going wrong

   Don't start with a handbook. Start with the single task that causes the most mistakes, complaints or questions this month. One finished SOP your team uses beats twenty drafts nobody reads. Give it a name that starts with a verb, like "Close the espresso machine", because that's how staff will look for it.

2. STEP 02

   Watch the best person do it, start to finish

   Ask whoever does the task best to do it while you watch, without interrupting. Write down every action in order, including the small ones they do without thinking. Better still, film it on your phone. You'll catch steps you would never remember at a desk.

3. STEP 03

   Write one action per step, starting with a verb

   "Wipe the steam wand" is a step. "The steam wand should then be wiped and purged" is not. Keep each step short enough to read at a glance, and split any step that contains the word "and" twice. Write for someone on their first day: if a word needs explaining, use a simpler one.

4. STEP 04

   Add the numbers wherever someone could guess

   How long, how many times, which setting, how full. "Rinse for 10 seconds" can be followed by anyone. "Rinse well" means something different to everyone on your team. Numbers are what turn a description into a standard.

5. STEP 05

   Mark the moments where a mistake costs you

   Add a short "watch out" note to the steps where getting it wrong breaks equipment, hurts someone, upsets a customer or costs money. Only those steps. If every step carries a warning, people stop reading them.

6. STEP 06

   Add a photo where seeing beats reading

   A photo of the right dial setting, the finished shelf or a correctly made bed replaces a paragraph of text. Take them on your phone while you watch the task. One clear photo per important step is plenty.

7. STEP 07

   Test it with someone new, then put it where the work happens

   Hand the SOP to someone who has never done the task and watch them follow it. Every time they stop or ask you something, fix that step. Then put the SOP where the task happens: a QR code on the machine, a link in your team chat. A binder in the office doesn't count.

SOP example: closing the espresso machine

Here's what this looks like for a real task. This is a shortened version of the end-of-day espresso machine clean that most cafés do. Notice the verbs, the numbers and the single warning.

A new barista can follow this on their first night. Compare it with "Clean the machine properly before you leave", which is what most cafés actually have written down, if anything.

• See the full espresso machine cleaning SOP →

Common SOP mistakes (and how to fix them)

• It's written for you, not for them. You know what "the usual way" means; a new hire doesn't. Read every step as if it were your first day.
• It's too long. If an SOP runs past 20 steps, it's probably two tasks. Split opening from closing, and setup from cleaning.
• It uses vague words. "Clean well", "check regularly" and "as needed" mean nothing on a busy Saturday. Replace them with numbers and times.
• Every step has a warning. Warnings work because they're rare. Keep them for the steps where a mistake really costs you.
• It lives in a binder in the office. If staff have to walk away from the task to read the SOP, they won't. Put it where the work happens.
• Nobody owns it. Equipment changes, the menu changes, the SOP doesn't. Put a name and a review date at the top, and update it when anything changes.

How to get your team to actually use SOPs

Writing the SOP is half the job. The other half is making it the first place people look. Three habits make the difference in small teams:

• Point to it every time. When someone asks how to do a task that has an SOP, answer with the link instead of the explanation. After a few weeks, people check first.
• Use it in training. Make new hires do each task with the SOP open on their phone for the first week, then sign off the task once they can do it alone.
• Fix it the moment it's wrong. If a step is out of date, change it that day. One wrong step teaches the whole team that the SOPs can't be trusted.

Record it instead of writing it

The hardest part of writing an SOP is the writing. Most owners of small businesses know their tasks inside out but never find two quiet hours to type them up. That's why most SOPs never get written.

There's a faster way: film yourself doing the task and talk through it as you go, the way you would with a new hire standing next to you. One to five minutes is plenty. ShowHow turns that video into a step-by-step SOP with a photo for each step and the "watch out" moments marked. You check it, change anything you like, and share it with a link or a QR code.

Your staff read it on their own phone, one step at a time, in their own language, and you can see who has read and confirmed it. When something changes, you edit one step and everyone gets the new version.

Free SOP template

If you'd rather start on paper, use our free SOP template. It walks you through the same steps as this guide, and you can download it as PDF or Word without signing up. We also have ready-made SOPs and checklists for the tasks small teams write down most often.

• Standard operating procedure template →
• Opening and closing checklist →
• Employee training manual template →
• All free templates →

SOP questions owners ask