We are struggling to document our core processes. The team gets bogged down in 50-page manuals that nobody reads. What is the practical way to get this done?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You are suffering from over-documentation. In EOS®, we use the 20/80 rule: document the twenty percent of your processes that produce eighty percent of the results. Your goal is to create high-level checklists, not exhaustive manuals.

Approach your process documentation like vibe coding. Do not try to write a perfect, immutable contract on your first try. Instead, write a simple draft, test it in the real world, and let your team provide feedback when they run into errors. Treat process optimization as an iterative conversation with your staff.

Once the core processes are documented at a high level, you must ensure they are followed by all. This means training your team, measuring compliance on your weekly Scorecard, and holding people accountable using the Accountability Chart. If a process is too complex to follow, simplify it immediately.

- Identify your company's core processes, which usually number between six and ten.
- Keep documentation to a simple, visual checklist of major steps, aiming for under five pages per process.
- Assign a clear owner to each core process who is responsible for keeping it updated.