Establishing standard work instructions

Most organizations have SOPs that nobody reads. In this Gluu Academy lesson, Søren Pommer shows you how to build work instructions that people actually use—by keeping them simple, visual, linked to the process, and owned by the people closest to the work.

Key learnings

• Codifying work pays back fast: return is often positive around the 4th execution of an activity (time savings alone).
• Keep terms clean: Process = WHO/WHAT/FLOW; Work instructions/SOPs = HOW.
• Instructions should be owned/edited by the most experienced people doing the work.
• Use a standard toolbox of formats: template-based standard work, step-by-step, video, screen recordings, and hybrid (flow + steps + video).
• Best practices: design for human nature (easiest path), write for onboarding, include tools/templates/data, apply digital 5S, and make it visual.
• Stabilize through usage: run, capture feedback, and update every 3–4 runs until reality matches documentation.
• Maintain credibility with revision control and approvals; use reusable components; keep a feedback loop and build the habit to use instructions every time.

Video transcript

After this session, you’ll be able to define a standard for work instructions that can be used across your organization’s processes. This is the foundation for instructions that are clear, consistent, visual, easy to maintain, and actually used in daily work.

Let’s start with the business case. Documenting how work is done pays off quickly because it saves time, reduces errors, and removes dependency on a few key people—and it enables the use of AI agents. Gluu’s customer research shows that the return is already positive around the fourth time an activity is carried out. That’s just in pure time savings—before we even count avoided mistakes, rework, or risk.

Just want to recap where work instructions fit into the bigger documentation picture. A process shows WHO does WHAT, and how work flows through decisions and handoffs. A procedure describes what one person does in a sequence—often within a process. A work instruction—also called a work guide, job aid, or SOP—describes HOW to perform a specific activity, step by step. Don’t mix terms. The process diagram is about WHAT, WHO, and FLOW. The work instruction is the HOW.

Work instructions should be owned and edited by the most experienced representatives of the staff doing the work. If someone doesn’t do the activity, they can’t write a credible instruction for it. That’s also why a centralized documentation team rarely scales—ownership must live close to the work. So it is our advice to push the ownership of specific work instructions as far down in the organization as you can. However, exceptions should be made for instructions that relate to operating centralized tools and systems.

So where should staff be able to find work instructions? A work instruction is most powerful when it’s linked directly to the activity in the process map. That’s how people get the right instruction in the right moment—rather than searching a folder full of PDFs. Also, this is where you attach system links, forms, templates, and controls.

There isn’t one perfect format for work instructions. A strong standard allows for different formats. Let’s cover the key types.

Template-based standard work, originally popularized by Toyota-style standard work. Best for repetitive operational work, quality-critical activities, and stable routines. Strength: consistent, easy to audit, quick to compare across teams.

Step-by-step instructions—the core format: numbered steps with acceptance criteria. Best for most office and operations tasks. Strength: fast to write, easy to test, easy to improve.

Video and recording-based instructions—for example, a warehouse manager’s tour explaining how we do it here. Best for physical work, onboarding, and context-heavy tasks. Strength: high clarity, low reading burden.

Screen recordings and show-how captures. Ask the person who knows the activity best to do a screen recording the next time the process runs. Best for digital tools, ERP steps, and service desk tasks. Strength: removes ambiguity; great for remote teams.

Hybrid instructions combining a small flow, a checklist, and a short clip. Best for complex tasks with decisions, risk, or many tools. Strength: strongest for knowledge transfer and consistent execution.

Let’s talk about what ensures that instructions are used even when people are busy.

First, design for human nature. When under pressure, people take the shortest path. So the standard way must be the easiest way. If the right way is slower, people will bypass it.

Second, write for onboarding. Imagine that a new colleague should complete the task with minimum supervision. What would they ask? Answer that in the instruction.

Third, make it more than text—build a toolbox. A good instruction includes what’s needed to execute: system access, data fields, templates, numbers, links, and example outputs. This is also where tasks—or even automation—can start.

Fourth, use Lean 5S for each activity’s workplace. 5S isn’t just physical—it works digitally too. Sort: remove clutter. Set in order: put links and templates where needed. Shine: keep it clean and current. Standardize: same format across instructions. Sustain: review cadence.

Fifth, visual beats verbal. Use images, diagrams, and short videos wherever possible. People learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and retain more.

It’s very important for me to underline that instructions become accurate through use—not through perfection in a workshop. To mature and stabilize a work instruction: run the process with the instruction in real work, capture problems and ideas directly on the activity, and update every three to four runs until the documentation matches reality. This is how you avoid shelfware SOPs.

Work instructions must be credible. That means versioning and clear revision history, approvals when risk or compliance requires it, and regular reviews after incidents, audits, or tool changes. Without change control, people stop trusting the content—and then adoption collapses.

Don’t rewrite the same content everywhere. Build reusable components: standard safety warnings, data privacy steps, template links, definitions and checklists. Then embed those components in multiple instructions. It saves time and keeps standards consistent. Again, this is hard without the proper tooling.

The best instructions evolve. Make sure your tooling supports that daily users can flag unclear steps, suggest improvements, and report issues tied to a specific step. Then triage weekly or monthly. Continuous improvement becomes a habit.

Gluu’s recommendation is simple: use the process and work instruction every time. That’s when people otherwise forget key tasks and controls. Habit builds consistency; consistency builds quality; quality builds trust. Think about pilots—they use checklists every time before take-off. If they don’t, checks tend to slip out over time. This may lead to disaster.

Define the standard, assign ownership close to the work, start with your highest-impact activities, and improve through real usage. And keep it simple—because as Einstein said: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”