Sounds like you’ve been on the path of “ISO9002″ and stumbled (like oh so many) with the finalisation, implementation and trying to keep it up to date.
IMHO – made it as far as internal auditor for ISO9002 at the company I worked for for 19 years – the best way to get it finalised, implemented (so it doesn’t disappear in a drawer) and up to date is to make someone responsible for it: responsible for it to be written, responsible for it to be implemented and changes in tasks edited in to it. (I know, bit of a problem when you’re a two man/woman-band, but still the principle is sound).

I’ve been playing around with ScreenSteps too and think it is a perfect program for all of this, plus very easy to structure and update all documentation.

(Back to my own writing now – with ScreenSteps )

Karin H

Going back to Ed, I had a brief look (a snapshot(?)) of Screenshot and I can see the power to document procedures (for delegating/outsourcing purposes), especially in the computer/online/web environment.

However, as far as the ‘bricks & mortar’ side of the business is concerned (and we sell/ rent out houses so you can’t get more ‘bricks & mortar’ than that!), now obviously Ed, that may be not strictly within your ‘jurisdiction’ to advise on that side since you are more into WEB marketing, but I HAVE had a bit of experience with that so I thought maybe I should share with everyone (since this post is about the ‘general’ escaping into the sun from your business be it online or “bricks & mortar”):

Some years back, I started an “Office Manual” project in Microsoft Word. The idea was to document as many procedures of our business as possible (including things like how to open & date-stamp the incoming post every morning/ how to take messages over the phone etc!!). This was mainly done so that when we take on new employees, you don’t have to spend hours with them explaining every single thing that they need to do.

Suffice to say that, although a brilliant idea and well-intentioned, I only got as far as “Office Manual” Version 0.3 or 0.4 (given that a complete manual would have been named version 1.0). The project then got ‘forgotten’ under the masses of paperwork that always builds up on my desk and intray.

However since the discussion on this and the previous post, I am getting tempted to revive and complete that project, after all once it’s all complete, I should in theory be able to sit back, put my feet up , and take on a ‘supervisory’ role in the business monitoring everybody else do the hard work!! (or like Ed, I could even fly to the Bahamas, and monitor everyone online via an internet connection )

Thanks all for this interesting and important discussion.

Shuaib

PS: Would anyone know of a better tool than Microsoft Word that I could use to do this (maybe a specific program geared towards compiling business or office manuals)? Thanks

Just watched two of the screensteps video and am very impressed! That is a real time-saving tip you brought us and for me so very timely (having to plan/write/publish my first online product – my ‘personal’ project for this month!)

And price wise it feels like peanuts for what it will save! So will download the trial today and start using it tomorrow. Weather forecast works to my advantage anyway: rain, rain, rain.

Thanks for bringing another great tool to our attention. IMHO that’s an important part of the ‘power’ of blogs: sharing of knowledge made easy

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)