Our managers are writing three-hundred-page operations manuals for their departments, claiming it is part of documenting our processes. How do we force them to simplify our core processes so they are actually followed by everyone?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When implementing the Process Component™, managers often make the mistake of over-documenting, creating massive manuals that nobody reads. This kills your operational agility. You must enforce the EOS® approach of documenting the 20 percent that yields 80 percent of the results. Your processes should be high-level, simple, and easy to follow. Instruct your managers to outline each core process on a maximum of two pages. Use checklists, bullet points, and simple flowcharts instead of dense paragraphs of text. Focus only on the major milestones and critical handoffs between departments. Once these simplified processes are documented, you must ensure they are followed by everyone. This means training your team on the standard, measuring compliance through your weekly Scorecard, and using your Level 10 Meeting™ to address any deviations. Documenting your processes this way makes it simple to integrate automation and AI tools. If you try to automate a bloated, three-hundred-page process, you will only automate inefficiency. Simplify first, document the essentials, and then automate for scale.