If You Didn't Write it, It Didn't Happen

In healthcare, the rule of thumb when treating patients is that if you didn’t write it, it didn’t happen.  The point is to write thorough notes for medico-legal reasons and if a patient needs to be treated by another provider, everyone will be on the same page.  Professors would always harp on getting a good documentation system going--or suffering the consequences.

This piece of advice isn’t only for healthcare.  Running a business requires a lot of writing! The most obvious reason to get started writing from day one is that it's essential to make sure important matters aren't left in somebody's inbox or, worse, some former employee's brain.  This happens often, and it really slows you down. The worst thing is being held hostage to a former employee’s knowledge because you don’t have access to it.

Starting on the day the idea is conceived, document everything!  Write your processes and protocols. Seriously, put them on paper.   Like many of my favorite best practices, this one was learned the hard way and always saves the day when done correctly.   It's good discipline, both for startups right out of the gate and for those who are conquering the world. For newbies, it's a way to think through every step.  It’s cheaper and easier to figure it out when trying to scribble it on paper than setting out to wing it and fall on your face. For the conquerors, good documentation greases the engine.  It helps with efficiency and enhances team creativity when they have easy access to knowledge.

There are four areas where documentation is precious:

1. Product development.  I’m guilty of trying to keep it all in my head, then getting frustrated that nobody understands what I want.  You need to scope out the who-when-why-how of a new product before getting started.

2. Onboarding.   You spend so much time finding the new perfect hire who is brilliant…then what?  If you don’t have a written process for this, you’ll get frustrated by the new hire’s lack of productivity.  Worse – your own productivity will decrease because of spending time training. This is a great way to start a relationship as a jerk.  Make it easy to play on your team. You can’t hire team players if you aren’t going to be one yourself. Pull together an onboarding packet.  Do it once, do it right, and reap the benefits with each new team member.

3. Process.  Every company has its own methods.  Pulling together your protocols; makes it easy to replicate all your special best practices.  You don’t even have to write all of it. I love giving my team pictures of the way things should look.

4. Consumer support.  Every business needs to have rules for how to communicate with customers or patients.  Pulling together a list of usual FAQs and internal support docs will keep your team consistent, efficient, and on message.  In addition to this, documenting each discussion with a customer or patient also gives a continuation of support. It’s no fun repeating your problems over and over again to a customer service representative.  Don’t make people do that – document their problems and what you’ve done to correct them.

What do you make sure to document?  How does it help you?