Owner-reported findings. Published Oct 26, 2026. Reviewed Oct 26, 2026.
If it isn’t written down, it isn’t fixed
A fix that lives in one person’s head breaks again the day that person is out. Documentation is part of the job, not something after it.
Two templates
- Master template for procedures that change systems. It has the full structure.
- Lean template for simple, low-risk tasks. Same spirit, fewer sections.
Choosing the lean one is fine. Skipping the template entirely is how procedures drift.
The sections that matter most
- Author checklist. What the author confirms before the SOP goes out.
- Validation. How you know it worked. Every procedure needs a “you should now see…” step.
- Rollback. How to undo it, written before you need it.
Write for the reader
Some of my SOPs are for engineers (the Netmiko venv setup, Dante Domain Manager login). Some are for everyone, like a plain-English guide to downloads and storage. The audience decides the vocabulary, not the topic.
The library
Generic versions of these templates and several SOPs are listed on the Toolkit page.