# SOP Writing with AI

The fastest way to write an SOP is to not write it. Record yourself doing the task once, narrating as you go, then let an AI assistant turn the transcript into a procedure anyone can follow. Works with any capable AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini). No plugins, no code.

## What you need

- A screen recorder that produces a transcript. Loom does this automatically, and most meeting tools do too if you record a solo call. If your recorder only gives you video, most AI assistants now accept an audio or video file and transcribe it for you.
- One task worth documenting. Good candidates: it happens at least weekly, it lives in one person's head, and it has a clear start and finish.
- Any capable AI assistant. This recipe is plain text and does not care which one.

## One-time setup

1. **Pick the task and the narrator.** The narrator is whoever actually does the task today, not the manager who thinks they know how it goes.
2. **Record a real run, not a demo.** Do the task for real while saying everything out loud: what you click, what you type, what you are checking for, and why. Most importantly, say the exceptions. "Unless the invoice is over the approval limit." "If the client is on the legacy plan." Those are the parts nobody ever writes down and exactly what the SOP exists to capture.
3. **Get the transcript.** Download it from your recording tool. Do not clean it up first; the prompt handles messy speech.
4. **Save the prompt below** wherever your team keeps snippets, so every SOP comes out in the same format.

## The prompt

Paste this, then paste the transcript at the bottom.

```
You are a technical writer converting a narrated walkthrough into a
standard operating procedure. I will paste the transcript of someone
doing a task while explaining it out loud.

Rules:
- Use only what is in the transcript. Never invent steps, settings,
  button names, or tool names.
- If the narrator skips something, backtracks, or is unclear, put it
  under "Gaps to fill" as a question instead of guessing.
- Write for someone who has never done this task. Every step starts
  with a verb and names the exact screen, button, field, or file the
  narrator mentioned.
- Keep the narrator's exceptions. Anything phrased like "unless" or
  "if X happens" becomes an "If:" note under the relevant step.

Format the SOP exactly like this:

# [Task name]

**Purpose:** One sentence: what this task produces and why it matters.
**Owner:** [Role, not a person's name]
**Frequency:** [How often, if the narrator said]
**Tools and access needed:** [Bullet list from the transcript]

## Before you start
The preconditions and inputs the narrator mentioned.

## Steps
Numbered, one action per step. Under a step, add:
- "Why:" if the narrator explained the reason
- "If:" for any exception or edge case they mentioned

## Done looks like
The finished state, as described in the transcript.

## Gaps to fill
Everything unclear, skipped, or contradictory in the recording,
phrased as direct questions for the narrator.

Transcript:
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
```

## Run it

1. Paste the saved prompt and the transcript into your AI assistant and send.
2. Read "Gaps to fill" first. Answer each question in a reply and ask the model to revise the SOP with your answers folded in.
3. Skim the steps against your memory of the recording. Anything that sounds plausible but was never actually said gets deleted or corrected. The rule: if it is not in the transcript or your answers, it does not belong in the SOP.

## QA: the follow-it-cold test

An SOP is done when someone who has never done the task can complete it using nothing but the document.

1. Hand the SOP to that person and watch them follow it. Say nothing.
2. Every time they pause, ask a question, or improvise, mark that step. Each mark is a hole in the document.
3. Fix the marked steps and run the test again. Needing two passes is normal.
4. Add an owner and a review date at the top, and store the SOP where the team already looks for documentation.

## When this outgrows DIY

This loop is great for documenting a handful of processes. It strains when you have dozens of SOPs going stale every time a tool or policy changes, when nobody trusts the docs because the process has moved on, or when the real goal is not a document at all but getting the work off a person's plate. A written SOP is also the best possible spec for an AI agent: once the steps, exceptions, and done-state are on paper, much of the procedure can be executed by software instead of read by a human. That handoff is a build, not a prompt.

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Free recipe from agentclaw (agentclawhq.com). Use it, share it, adapt it.