Plant Money Trees By Making SYSTEMS

[NeoDialectic]

I've seen "making systems" and delegating mentioned throughout the forum a few times now (@Antifragile , @Kak , @mikecarlooch , @BizyDad, @MTF , and more) but I haven't stumbled on any recent easy approachable guides to it. It seems like some people are really hesitant because it looks harder than it could be. But it must be done. At one point in every business life cycle, there will come a time that the owner can no longer do everything and must start delegating more things than just simple tasks or labors.

There are probably unlimited ways of doing this. My goal is to show you just how easy this part could be as long as you follow my own system on it! Remember, the quality of your system has more to do with the result than the quality of your employee. I have had very low skill, technologically illiterate, employees do relatively complicated things on computers pretty much flawlessly. Tune in till the end to see other applications outside of just employees and contractors!

I will include examples from experiences that @fastlane_dad and I dealt with on a follow up post as this one has got pretty long.

Prelude:​

When thinking about which systems to automate first, I think about 3 factors.

1. Which of my processes are super simple and only take a few steps to do?
2. Which of my processes take me the most amount of time?
3. Which of my processes are least consequential to the core of the business if there are small mistakes?

I would then sort my priorities based on these answers. Everything can be automated, but this is just the thought process I would use to figure out the order to go in

1. If something is super simple and only takes a few steps, then it may be a good idea to get this off your plate first. It will get you thinking in the right direction and expose you to just how freeing delegating can feel. An example of this is if you have been sending out postcards in the mail, you can now get someone else to do this. All they have to do is open the boxes, put the stamp on, put it in a new box for the mail man. You don't need a guide to teach you how to delegate this. But maybe it's the kick in the butt you needed to actually do it.
2. The more time a process takes the more value (free time) you will get by taking it off your hands. Time intensive processes are prioritized
3. You should start with the parts of the business that matter the least if something was messed up. If your $5 widget gets sent to the wrong address every once in a while, its not preferable but it's not a big deal either. You just send a new one out. But if a mistake or oversight could mean that you are now out of stock from your product for the next 2 months and are losing $1000s a day in sales... I would delegate that last.

Part 1:​

Make sure you have done the task yourself and have become comfortable with it. Notice what part of the processes stay the same and which part of the processes are variable.

Part 2:​

Do the task yourself and write down every single step. I really mean every single one. When you hit a part that is variable, address it by saying "consult X sheet for examples". At the end of this part you should have a sheet that is so exact that a programmed machine will get all the steps right other than the variable parts that you reference.

Part 3:​

Now you have to create the references for the variable portion. If you have done a task over and over, you will start noticing a pattern. You want to be able to give an example sheet for 80%+ of all possibilities. This could mean questions/answers. It could mean common scenarios and what to do in those scenarios.

Part 4:​

You need to spend 1:1 time with your employee going over things. If this is an in person employee then you sit down with them. If this is online, it will depend on the task, but you should figure out a way to talk with them live and maybe share screens or something of the sort. Lets say it is with an in person employee and the task is on the computer. I will sit down with them with the instructions directly in front of us. First I would explain what they are going to be doing in a very general way. I will show them the variable sheet and have them read it. For example if it is a questions/answer sheet, have a discussion with them on whether they understand the questions and whether the answers make sense.

I will now proceed to do the task, but completely base off the instructions and not memory. That means I will point to the step on the sheet before doing the step in real life. Depending on how complicated the procedure is I may do it a few times.

Then I will have the employee do it in front of me. The next part is one of the most important parts and the part that I think gets skipped the most out of laziness. You need to watch the employee do it over and over again. The first times, give them room to breathe and allow them to explore. Don't just step in when they are having trouble. Them doing their own trouble shooting will solidify their learning. Also keep in mind that it is nerve racking to have your boss breathing over your shoulder while you are doing something new. So relax. The only time you should leave is after you have seen that they are getting the processes without stumbling over the easy parts and can do the whole thing SEVERAL TIMES without your input. Don't shortcut this step. Wasting your precious time here today, will pay off in dividends over the next days.

This is also a learning opportunity for yourself. See where they keep stumbling and think about what you could have added to prevent the stumbling. Did you forget to say that Button x is on the other side of the screen of Button y? It may sound dumb to be so thorough when you are there and could just show them, but it's not. You'll see! They will pick up the task today and then come in after a long weekend and it's as if their brain did a hard reset. Luckily, they can just consult the sheet and don't have to bother you! Or they may be in the middle of the task and their brain throw up a blue screen of death? No problems, consult the sheet! Be patient and understand that your business may be the number one thing on YOUR mind, but they are just an employee that is likely thinking about their "actual" life back home. Thats OK as we have accounted for that.

Part 5:​

Don't leave just yet! Make sure they know that you are there if they need anything. If they aren't sure about something, no matter how little or dumb, to come to you. Depending on the processes (like customer service), there will always be variables that you did not list on your example sheet. Tell them to come to you with it and you will help them. Depending on your scenario and the task itself, they should either come to you whenever it comes up or they should leave all the unknowns till a specific time of the day and come to you with all of them.

When they do come to you, it is very important to be welcoming and to not just answer the question but also explain your reasoning behind it. If 80% of variables can be covered in an example sheet, the remaining 19.9% can eventually be learned by the employee just by seeing the example and understanding the guiding principles of your decision in the answer. We have all read how they program ai computers by throwing more and more examples at them. That's exactly your expectation here.

Pro tip: You should start noticing patterns in the way you answered these variables. You should start distilling these patterns to principles. Eventually you should have a set of guiding principles that can be attached to the training sheet that will shortcut future learning and possibly even other systems.

Part 6:​

Thats it! A few things to keep in mind

• Make sure to update the sheet as you run across stumbling blocks by your employee.
• Don't be afraid to ask them if they understand why you decided to deal with Variable X a certain way. Don't just tell them. Remember, they are thinking about whether they did the laundry at home. Make sure they can articulate your reasoning back to you. P
• Eventually you will outsource everything. Including this process itself! We gave instructions on creating systems to our businesses manager and had him do it to some of his tasks to hand it off to employees underneath him.
• As you grow, don't limit this process to only delegating duties. Occasionally have your employees create step by step processes for every single thing they do. So when Becky gets sick, David can fill in on a rudimentary level and the business keeps chugging along with minimal input from you. Or what about when David quits? You now have a training manual that will get your new employee up to speed immediately.
• The less you have to rely on the employee that you can automate on your end, the better. For example, we had an employee that had to randomly choose a prize for a contest we ran. Leaving it to the employee ended up bogging the processes down and would also result in far from random results. I built an html page in 10 minutes that randomly selected a number and showed which prize to give. So much better. Non-programming solutions are easy too. Just google random number generator and have them click that , with a reference sheet that pins numbers to product. Again....Your employees are thinking about whether they left their stove on at home or if Sandy will want to hang out that night. The least amount of decisions they have to make the better.

Postscript:​

You may have noticed I italicized a few words here and there. They were all breadcrumbs for the ultimate form of a successful system. All these steps can be applied to creating computer automated systems. I only know basic levels of programming but between my knowledge, google fu, and macro's and have automated things that others thought you definitely needed humans to do. You can automate an ASTOUNDING amount of things and you should think about hiring someone to create a program/macro/script.

It's really this simple. Once you create the instructions sheet, the most important part is following your employee through the steps and watching them do it on their own. So don't be scared to dive right in. Modify the process as needed to account for different needs. Just don't shortcut dwelling on the details.

Notes on hiring:

Many online tasks can be delegated over the internet, which puts lets stress on you taking the plunge and getting your first employee. However, it may be time to hire your first employee if you have many real life tasks that need to be done or if you have a lot to delegate. I'm sure there are great threads and how-to's already on this from more qualified people. I'll only briefly touch on it since it is pertinent to my guide. Don't be nervous about hiring someone just to let them down or finding out it wasn't the right time for you and having to let them go. I know this is a big stumbling block for many people. If you are nervous about it, just be completely up front with them. Tell them the plan is to hire them for years to come, but that you are a startup so it is always possible that situations can change. I recommend paying relatively well compared to others in your market, but that is a personal business choice. Plenty of people are happy to jump aboard as long as you are up front with your requirements and you treat them right. Keep in mind that when allocating time, I would expect my low skill employees to do things at no more than 1/4 the speed that I do things. (Atleast at first)

What do you guys think? Are you ready to delegate some of your tedious tasks now? What about the complicated ones? I would love to hear stories of complicated tasks that were delegated and any creative solutions you had.

 

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[NeoDialectic]

Examples:​

Task:
Create a system that will allow your in-person employee to take over all customer service and emails. For brevities sake I stuck with a "simple" example, but just ask any business owner and they will have endless stories about how even this one can be messed up! So it still needs to be done right.

What the sheet looks like:​

1. Move the mouse pointer over the "e" button at the bottom of the screen and then click on it to open Internet Explorer
2. Near the top 1/4 of your screen you will see a button that says "GMAIL". Click on it (I would have created a bookmark in the bookmarks bar)
3. Make sure you see the button "Inbox" highlighted on the top left and if it is not, then click on it.
4. All read emails are highlighted blue and unread emails are not highlighted
5. Scroll down on the screen to find the last not highlighted email
6. Click on the email
7. Once inside, please read it. Look out for what the question and concern is of the customer.
8. Scroll down and in the bottom left corner click on the "reply" button.
9. Please consult the QUESTIONS sheet to find the answer to the question and write it in. (For this I had the questions in a word document that they could copy paste the answer from. Instructions were given on how to open and use that too)
10. It is OK if the answer you find answers more than the exact question the customer is asking. If there is a question that you cannot answer based off the QUESTIONS sheet, please let me know. (alternatively I could instruct them how to star the message and bring me all of them to go through together at the end of the day)
11. When done, click on the "Send" button in the lower left corner
12. Once the popup in the lower left corner says "message sent", click on the "Inbox" button in the upper left corner of the screen
13. Start over with Step 3

See how painstakingly detailed this is? Does it seem like everyone should know how to do this? Well you're wrong. Being specific is the key. The higher the skill level of your employee, the less you have to dwell on specifics. So you don't have to give instruction on how to send an email to your programmer. But if you are training someone to do unskilled labor like sending emails, you start from scratch.

My Process of making the variable sheet:

1. I will go through the inbox and try to boil down every email to what the actual question is and then write a response to it. Spend some time on writing a good response that encapsulates all possible variations of the question. Remember, this will not be the response given to hundreds of customers.
2. Keep in mind how sometimes it is better to group some responses together into one question/answer while other times it is better to be simple. A question about how long X item is, should be answered with an answer that includes width/height/depth/weight etc...

The most important part of this example is coming up with a good QUESTIONS sheet. Make sure all common questions are included by going trough hundreds of emails. Then when you start training your employee, make sure to really watch their process of finding the question/answer and offer guidance.

I have successfully used this type of process to train a computer illiterate employee to answer all customer service emails. By the end of the week, I would only get one or two unanswerable questions that they needed to consult me on. Within a month that was whittled down near zero.

Task:
Create a system that will allow a call center to take over all customer service and phone calls.

Process:
Remember when I mentioned you shouldn't be afraid to modify the system as long as you focus on the details? Well this is an example that needs just that. Call centers have already done their own training, so you don't need to have a step by step general instructional. Instead, you need to have a solid QUESTIONS sheet with one small addition.

Remember that the person answering the phone for you may have literally just seen your company/product/service for the first time in their lives. However, they should be trained in using a questions/answers sheet effectively. Make sure to include common keywords for all your questions so that when they "ctr-f" they can find the question effectively.

You should also add a note on your account that tells the agents something along the lines of "If you cannot find the answer to the question, please tell them you are just a customer service agent but the customer can email support@x.com with their question and the will receive a response back within 24 hours". Even better is have a contact us page on your website where they can fill out a for that sends the email on the customers behalf. Then your note should say "If you cannot find the answer to the question, go to x.com/contact and fill out the form with the customers email/phone and question. Tell them you have escalated the question to a different department and will hear back within 24 hours".

Most importantly, it is now your job to monitor the responses you receive over the next month and integrate common concerns into the questions/answers sheet. If something can be missed or misinterpreted, it will be. So have patience.

 

[MTF]

This is gold. Thank you so much for writing this. I'm preparing myself to become a systems pro so this is extremely, extremely helpful.

One thing you haven't added that I've used myself and see others do heavily: explain via video, not text. It's way easier to show the exact process done live via a screen capture software than it is to write every little step. The sample instruction you wrote for the customer support job could be explained in 30 seconds via video. It would leave zero doubt about what to do as you'd show the exact process visually.

Another thing that you have mentioned but it's worth emphasizing: always ask people to do a quick sample job first. Don't ever tell a contractor to do, say, 20 articles at once because if they didn't understand something, that mistake will be replicated across 20 articles. I'd order one sample article, then maybe 5, and if there are no issues, then let them do dozens of articles.

 

[NeoDialectic]

This is gold. Thank you so much for writing this. I'm preparing myself to become a systems pro so this is extremely, extremely helpful.

Your welcome and thank you for the kind words! Once you have found something that works, making a system for it is invaluable. Depending on the process, it's literally like planting a money tree that grows on it's own.

I assume you are referencing your articles/blogs project?

One thing you haven't added that I've used myself and see others do heavily: explain via video, not text. It's way easier to show the exact process done live via a screen capture software than it is to write every little step. The sample instruction you wrote for the customer support job could be explained in 30 seconds via video. It would leave zero doubt about what to do as you'd show the exact process visually.

For sure. This is definitely one of those things that could have been shown faster than typed out. Considering I am just starting to write, it takes forever!

I've considered starting a YouTube channel but it adds alot more workload (editing). I actually enjoy that type of stuff but not sure where I could fit it in at the current time.

Another thing that you have mentioned but it's worth emphasizing: always ask people to do a quick sample job first. Don't ever tell a contractor to do, say, 20 articles at once because if they didn't understand something, that mistake will be replicated across 20 articles. I'd order one sample article, then maybe 5, and if there are no issues, then let them do dozens of articles.

Good point. Working with online contractors is an important parallel topic. I look forward to that part of your write up on your journey!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

@NeoDialectic this is SO gold seriously thank you for this write up, I never understood how this stuff works. This lays it out simpler than anything possibly could. Whenever I used to think systems I would think extremely complicated. But this.. REALLY cut my learning curve on systems.

This is gold. Thank you so much for writing this. I'm preparing myself to become a systems pro so this is extremely, extremely helpful.

One thing you haven't added that I've used myself and see others do heavily: explain via video, not text. It's way easier to show the exact process done live via a screen capture software than it is to write every little step. The sample instruction you wrote for the customer support job could be explained in 30 seconds via video. It would leave zero doubt about what to do as you'd show the exact process visually.

Another thing that you have mentioned but it's worth emphasizing: always ask people to do a quick sample job first. Don't ever tell a contractor to do, say, 20 articles at once because if they didn't understand something, that mistake will be replicated across 20 articles. I'd order one sample article, then maybe 5, and if there are no issues, then let them do dozens of articles.

Wow thank you @MTF This is genius

 

[Walter Hay]

As I read though this excellent thread I couldn't help thinking "This guy would be a wizard at writing Operations Manuals for businesses that are considering setting up a franchise system."

Freelancers are sometimes employed to write an Operations Manual, but it is not any easy task. The writer must have an intimate knowledge of the business to be franchised.

Nothing that has had any influence on the successful operation of the business can be missed because that information is what the franchisees are paying for.

I have posted on this subject in my thread below, because this thread by @NeoDialectic would be of great help to any member intending to franchise a business.

See: Rapid Scaling a business by franchising​

Walter

 

[hustlebear]

Thank you so much!!!! Makes it much easier for my chaotic brain to think of how to build systems. Such a scary word ... This is a simple framework that I will use in my next business. Thank you so much.

 

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[Antifragile]

I will add to @NeoDialectic excellent post: use checklists. It is the backbone of my businesses.

The best book on checklists is The Checklist Manifesto

Just a few quotes for you:

• "It is common to misconceive how checklists function in complex lines of work. They are not comprehensive how-to guides, whether for building a skyscraper or getting a plane out of trouble. They are quick and simple tools aimed to buttress the skills of expert professionals." (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto)
• "The checklist cannot be lengthy. A rule of thumb some use is to keep it to between five and nine items, which is the limit of working memory." (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto)
• "Good checklists, on the other hand, are precise. They are efficient, to the point, and easy to use even in the most difficult situations. They do not try to spell out everything—a checklist cannot fly a plane. Instead, they provide reminders of only the most critical and important steps—the ones that even the highly skilled professionals using them could miss. Good checklists are, above all, practical." (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto)
• "Pilots nonetheless turn to their checklists for two reasons. First, they are trained to do so. They learn from the beginning of flight school that their memory and judgment are unreliable and that lives depend on their recognizing that fact. Second, the checklists have proved their worth—they work." (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto)
• "“When surgeons make sure to wash their hands or to talk to everyone on the team”—he’d seen the surgery checklist—“they improve their outcomes with no increase in skill. That’s what we are doing when we use the checklist.”" (Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto)

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

This is the type of thing I wouldn't give away for free, but...

We have a system based on ISO 9000 but that we consider to be better. It's more geared towards manufacturing, construction, and project-based firms. Wouldn't apply to every type of biz, but could be modified to most.

If you research "quality systems," that would be a good place to learn how to make systems for any business, and you'd be on the right track to take any business from small to large, or even gigantic.

 

[Antifragile]

This is the type of thing I wouldn't give away for free

Hold on a minute! This is the internet. Everything should be free! Books, systems, software!




Couldn't resist.

 

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[fastlane_dad]

I will add to this thread, as as pointed out by @NeoDialectic that you really gotta slow down and dumb things down, as mentioned but also - many times we looked at the 80/20 of actions and results - and modified our SYSTEMS and PROCESSES based on that.

What that means, as an example -- is that we optimized our call center sales script, for the 20% of customers that actually brought in 80% of the sales. Because everything past that would get 'more' complicated and overly bog down the call center / receptionist answering the phone (costing us $XXX of dollars of phone time, confusing the customer, and leaving a bad 'company impression' that we don't know what we are doing).

The other thing we were CONSTANTLY amazed with, and I don't mean that lightly - is how we had fairly low IQ workers do fairly complex TASKS, as long as there was a SYSTEM behind it. At first we were VERY HESITANT to delegate many high-level tasks, and we both took a WHILE to make the hurdle to take those things of our plate, but with a SYSTEM behind it, we were able to implement very low-skilled level workers on doing an EXCELLENT job for us, over and over again.

We were both INCREDIBLY impressed with what you can teach / make an employee do as long as they figure out 'what to really do here'.

 

[mikecarlooch]

The other thing we were CONSTANTLY amazed with, and I don't mean that lightly - is how we had fairly low IQ workers do fairly complex TASKS, as long as there was a SYSTEM behind it. At first we were VERY HESITANT to delegate many high-level tasks, and we both took a WHILE to make the hurdle to take those things of our plate, but with a SYSTEM behind it, we were able to implement very low-skilled level workers on doing an EXCELLENT job for us, over and over again.

We were both INCREDIBLY impressed with what you can teach / make an employee do as long as they figure out 'what to really do here'.

Interesting! So you can essentially turn a VA into a rockstar with the right system in place

 

[MTF]

At first we were VERY HESITANT to delegate many high-level tasks, and we both took a WHILE to make the hurdle to take those things of our plate, but with a SYSTEM behind it, we were able to implement very low-skilled level workers on doing an EXCELLENT job for us, over and over again.

Any tips how to remove the mental blocks most entrepreneurs probably have when considering something like this?

 

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[YoungPadawan]

Great post. I'll, add: since most systems happen repeatedly on a set schedule or after certain events happening, it would be beneficial to use a cmms. A cmms is like a to-do list and calendar on steroids and it's what factories use to keep track of maintaining everything in the plant.

I personally use Fiix by Rockwell Automation, but there are many out there.

 

[fastlane_dad]

Any tips how to remove the mental blocks most entrepreneurs probably have when considering something like this?

It was a 'tough' mental battle - but moving past it was probably no different then what you see and hear most to go forward.

Things we though were 'UN-fathamoble' to do by anyone by us, was able to be accomplished by someone that we would have to literally instruct on how to turn on a computer step by step.

The mental blocks that had to be removed is acceptance that things are teachable , you CAN come up with a system, and humans are more capable then you give them credit for (as long as you are willing to be a good teacher) - and look at the end of the day, you are going to end up with a bit of 'slop' at least initially in their execution.

There will be mistakes, there will be errors - BUT we constantly tried to ask ourselves as well - as what is the WORST outcome that can possibly happen, and how far is that outcome removed from tanking a part of our business, getting us into 'legal' trouble of any sort, damaging our reputation etc.

Some things we were OK with losing - maybe a customer or two here in the process, or some extra money, or having the employee redo the work....etc. It was the LARGE, irreparable items we were always concerned with.

And honestly - at the end of the day, the point when we removed some of these things of our plate is when we almost had no CHOICE but to remove them, to keep going forward and focus on growing our business (or else it'd start dying).

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Where on earth can you get actionable advice from an 8-figure entrepreneur without any upsells?

Phenomenal post! Took me a bit to go through it, but very actionable stuff. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the community.

InstaGOLD!

 

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[NeoDialectic]

Where on earth can you get actionable advice from an 8-figure entrepreneur without any upsells?

Phenomenal post! Took me a bit to go through it, but very actionable stuff. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the community.

InstaGOLD!

Thanks MJ!

I'm looking forward to your recap of how Utah's been.

If I remember correctly, most of your projects (Limos and Fastlane are what come to mind) have always been run lean and with minimal employees right?

It's so fascinating how different people clearly show preferences for different types of businesses. You, me, @fastlane_dad , @MTF, and @Andy Black come to mind when thinking about the "leaner with less employees" type of operations. Meanwhile @Kak & @Antifragile have such strong expansionist mindsets. It's awesome how both types find a home here in harmony and riff off each others advice.

 

[NeoDialectic]

@NeoDialectic this is SO gold seriously thank you for this write up, I never understood how this stuff works. This lays it out simpler than anything possibly could. Whenever I used to think systems I would think extremely complicated. But this.. REALLY cut my learning curve on systems.

Wow thank you @MTF This is genius

I'm glad it helped peel the curtain back for atleast one person!

Now don't forget to chime back in when you actually apply it so others can see it really is that simple.

Any tips how to remove the mental blocks most entrepreneurs probably have when considering something like this?

@fastlane_dad had a good answer. If I was to try and compress my tips to one sentence it would be:

Slowly by placing one foot in front of the other.

Just like any other mindset shift. Instead of expecting rapid direction change like in a jet ski, we need to be fair to ourselves and accept that changing minds is more like turning the Titanic around. The longer you've been at it and the better results you have had thus far, the more it's like a turning a supertanker and less like a jet ski.

 

[Albert KOUADJA]

Really, it is an excellent thread. Thanks for everybody who interverned.

 

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[Paul David]

This is a great post.

I'm a massive believer in systems, and can recommend a good book I read many years ago called Work the System by Sam Carpenter.

This post has also reminded me that the reason I've become a bit stuck lately is because everyday I sit down to do outreach to bring in more customers for my Saas but because I don't have a system to follow nothing much gets done.

Time to start writing....

 

[Panos Daras]

I've seen "making systems" and delegating mentioned throughout the forum a few times now (@Antifragile , @Kak , @mikecarlooch , @BizyDad, @MTF , and more) but I haven't stumbled on any recent easy approachable guides to it. It seems like some people are really hesitant because it looks harder than it could be. But it must be done. At one point in every business life cycle, there will come a time that the owner can no longer do everything and must start delegating more things than just simple tasks or labors.

There are probably unlimited ways of doing this. My goal is to show you just how easy this part could be as long as you follow my own system on it! Remember, the quality of your system has more to do with the result than the quality of your employee. I have had very low skill, technologically illiterate, employees do relatively complicated things on computers pretty much flawlessly. Tune in till the end to see other applications outside of just employees and contractors!

I will include examples from experiences that @fastlane_dad and I dealt with on a follow up post as this one has got pretty long.

Prelude:​

When thinking about which systems to automate first, I think about 3 factors.

1. Which of my processes are super simple and only take a few steps to do?
2. Which of my processes take me the most amount of time?
3. Which of my processes are least consequential to the core of the business if there are small mistakes?

I would then sort my priorities based on these answers. Everything can be automated, but this is just the thought process I would use to figure out the order to go in

1. If something is super simple and only takes a few steps, then it may be a good idea to get this off your plate first. It will get you thinking in the right direction and expose you to just how freeing delegating can feel. An example of this is if you have been sending out postcards in the mail, you can now get someone else to do this. All they have to do is open the boxes, put the stamp on, put it in a new box for the mail man. You don't need a guide to teach you how to delegate this. But maybe it's the kick in the butt you needed to actually do it.
2. The more time a process takes the more value (free time) you will get by taking it off your hands. Time intensive processes are prioritized
3. You should start with the parts of the business that matter the least if something was messed up. If your $5 widget gets sent to the wrong address every once in a while, its not preferable but it's not a big deal either. You just send a new one out. But if a mistake or oversight could mean that you are now out of stock from your product for the next 2 months and are losing $1000s a day in sales... I would delegate that last.

Part 1:​

Make sure you have done the task yourself and have become comfortable with it. Notice what part of the processes stay the same and which part of the processes are variable.

Part 2:​

Do the task yourself and write down every single step. I really mean every single one. When you hit a part that is variable, address it by saying "consult X sheet for examples". At the end of this part you should have a sheet that is so exact that a programmed machine will get all the steps right other than the variable parts that you reference.

Part 3:​

Now you have to create the references for the variable portion. If you have done a task over and over, you will start noticing a pattern. You want to be able to give an example sheet for 80%+ of all possibilities. This could mean questions/answers. It could mean common scenarios and what to do in those scenarios.

Part 4:​

You need to spend 1:1 time with your employee going over things. If this is an in person employee then you sit down with them. If this is online, it will depend on the task, but you should figure out a way to talk with them live and maybe share screens or something of the sort. Lets say it is with an in person employee and the task is on the computer. I will sit down with them with the instructions directly in front of us. First I would explain what they are going to be doing in a very general way. I will show them the variable sheet and have them read it. For example if it is a questions/answer sheet, have a discussion with them on whether they understand the questions and whether the answers make sense.

I will now proceed to do the task, but completely base off the instructions and not memory. That means I will point to the step on the sheet before doing the step in real life. Depending on how complicated the procedure is I may do it a few times.

Then I will have the employee do it in front of me. The next part is one of the most important parts and the part that I think gets skipped the most out of laziness. You need to watch the employee do it over and over again. The first times, give them room to breathe and allow them to explore. Don't just step in when they are having trouble. Them doing their own trouble shooting will solidify their learning. Also keep in mind that it is nerve racking to have your boss breathing over your shoulder while you are doing something new. So relax. The only time you should leave is after you have seen that they are getting the processes without stumbling over the easy parts and can do the whole thing SEVERAL TIMES without your input. Don't shortcut this step. Wasting your precious time here today, will pay off in dividends over the next days.

This is also a learning opportunity for yourself. See where they keep stumbling and think about what you could have added to prevent the stumbling. Did you forget to say that Button x is on the other side of the screen of Button y? It may sound dumb to be so thorough when you are there and could just show them, but it's not. You'll see! They will pick up the task today and then come in after a long weekend and it's as if their brain did a hard reset. Luckily, they can just consult the sheet and don't have to bother you! Or they may be in the middle of the task and their brain throw up a blue screen of death? No problems, consult the sheet! Be patient and understand that your business may be the number one thing on YOUR mind, but they are just an employee that is likely thinking about their "actual" life back home. Thats OK as we have accounted for that.

Part 5:​

Don't leave just yet! Make sure they know that you are there if they need anything. If they aren't sure about something, no matter how little or dumb, to come to you. Depending on the processes (like customer service), there will always be variables that you did not list on your example sheet. Tell them to come to you with it and you will help them. Depending on your scenario and the task itself, they should either come to you whenever it comes up or they should leave all the unknowns till a specific time of the day and come to you with all of them.

When they do come to you, it is very important to be welcoming and to not just answer the question but also explain your reasoning behind it. If 80% of variables can be covered in an example sheet, the remaining 19.9% can eventually be learned by the employee just by seeing the example and understanding the guiding principles of your decision in the answer. We have all read how they program ai computers by throwing more and more examples at them. That's exactly your expectation here.

Pro tip: You should start noticing patterns in the way you answered these variables. You should start distilling these patterns to principles. Eventually you should have a set of guiding principles that can be attached to the training sheet that will shortcut future learning and possibly even other systems.

Part 6:​

Thats it! A few things to keep in mind

• Make sure to update the sheet as you run across stumbling blocks by your employee.
• Don't be afraid to ask them if they understand why you decided to deal with Variable X a certain way. Don't just tell them. Remember, they are thinking about whether they did the laundry at home. Make sure they can articulate your reasoning back to you. P
• Eventually you will outsource everything. Including this process itself! We gave instructions on creating systems to our businesses manager and had him do it to some of his tasks to hand it off to employees underneath him.
• As you grow, don't limit this process to only delegating duties. Occasionally have your employees create step by step processes for every single thing they do. So when Becky gets sick, David can fill in on a rudimentary level and the business keeps chugging along with minimal input from you. Or what about when David quits? You now have a training manual that will get your new employee up to speed immediately.
• The less you have to rely on the employee that you can automate on your end, the better. For example, we had an employee that had to randomly choose a prize for a contest we ran. Leaving it to the employee ended up bogging the processes down and would also result in far from random results. I built an html page in 10 minutes that randomly selected a number and showed which prize to give. So much better. Non-programming solutions are easy too. Just google random number generator and have them click that , with a reference sheet that pins numbers to product. Again....Your employees are thinking about whether they left their stove on at home or if Sandy will want to hang out that night. The least amount of decisions they have to make the better.

Postscript:​

You may have noticed I italicized a few words here and there. They were all breadcrumbs for the ultimate form of a successful system. All these steps can be applied to creating computer automated systems. I only know basic levels of programming but between my knowledge, google fu, and macro's and have automated things that others thought you definitely needed humans to do. You can automate an ASTOUNDING amount of things and you should think about hiring someone to create a program/macro/script.

It's really this simple. Once you create the instructions sheet, the most important part is following your employee through the steps and watching them do it on their own. So don't be scared to dive right in. Modify the process as needed to account for different needs. Just don't shortcut dwelling on the details.

Notes on hiring:

Many online tasks can be delegated over the internet, which puts lets stress on you taking the plunge and getting your first employee. However, it may be time to hire your first employee if you have many real life tasks that need to be done or if you have a lot to delegate. I'm sure there are great threads and how-to's already on this from more qualified people. I'll only briefly touch on it since it is pertinent to my guide. Don't be nervous about hiring someone just to let them down or finding out it wasn't the right time for you and having to let them go. I know this is a big stumbling block for many people. If you are nervous about it, just be completely up front with them. Tell them the plan is to hire them for years to come, but that you are a startup so it is always possible that situations can change. I recommend paying relatively well compared to others in your market, but that is a personal business choice. Plenty of people are happy to jump aboard as long as you are up front with your requirements and you treat them right. Keep in mind that when allocating time, I would expect my low skill employees to do things at no more than 1/4 the speed that I do things. (Atleast at first)

What do you guys think? Are you ready to delegate some of your tedious tasks now? What about the complicated ones? I would love to hear stories of complicated tasks that were delegated and any creative solutions you had.

Thank you so much for this post! I was trying to pitch up this exact idea to my previous manager, a CFO of a startup coming from a big corpo as his previous job, but he just would not get it! He woud always ask me, being an ex-FP&A manager guy, what is the data to support it? How do we measure the impact of this work, beforehand? Finance people can be the kings and queens of action fakers (me included). 2 years forward creating process maps, videos and swimlanes, is an integral part of improving the department I now work for as a project manager.

 

[NeoDialectic]

Great post. I'll, add: since most systems happen repeatedly on a set schedule or after certain events happening, it would be beneficial to use a cmms. A cmms is like a to-do list and calendar on steroids and it's what factories use to keep track of maintaining everything in the plant.

I personally use Fiix by Rockwell Automation, but there are many out there.

Hmmm, that's a good idea. I don't need anything like this for business but it would help for my personal life. Anyone have any recommendations for an app like this for Android? Currently I keep track of all my home/car/bike/boat/etc maintanance through a notes app. I'm guessing a purpose built app may be better!

 

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[DB1]

Incredibly useful post! This system-based approach complements the book The E Myth Revisited which I am yet to read but the summary was great and I've heard good things about it.

 

[NeoDialectic]

Really, it is an excellent thread. Thanks for everybody who interverned.

Hope it helped! I would love it for others to chime in with their systems that they put in place. Helps everyone get ideas.

Thank you so much for this post! I was trying to pitch up this exact idea to my previous manager, a CFO of a startup coming from a big corpo as his previous job, but he just would not get it! He woud always ask me, being an ex-FP&A manager guy, what is the data to support it? How do we measure the impact of this work, beforehand? Finance people can be the kings and queens of action fakers (me included). 2 years forward creating process maps, videos and swimlanes, is an integral part of improving the department I now work for as a project manager.

That's the problem with working for someone. You were hired to do their bidding and ultimately you should do things the way they want you to or quit.

It sounds like you are given the freedom to apply your skills now and hopefully the people above you notice!

Ideally you will start your own business and apply the same skills!

 

[Two Dog]

Then I will have the employee do it in front of me. The next part is one of the most important parts and the part that I think gets skipped the most out of laziness. You need to watch the employee do it over and over again. The first times, give them room to breathe and allow them to explore. Don't just step in when they are having trouble. Them doing their own trouble shooting will solidify their learning. Also keep in mind that it is nerve racking to have your boss breathing over your shoulder while you are doing something new. So relax. The only time you should leave is after you have seen that they are getting the processes without stumbling over the easy parts and can do the whole thing SEVERAL TIMES without your input. Don't shortcut this step. Wasting your precious time here today, will pay off in dividends over the next days.

This is also a learning opportunity for yourself. See where they keep stumbling and think about what you could have added to prevent the stumbling. Did you forget to say that Button x is on the other side of the screen of Button y? It may sound dumb to be so thorough when you are there and could just show them, but it's not. You'll see! They will pick up the task today and then come in after a long weekend and it's as if their brain did a hard reset. Luckily, they can just consult the sheet and don't have to bother you! Or they may be in the middle of the task and their brain throw up a blue screen of death? No problems, consult the sheet! Be patient and understand that your business may be the number one thing on YOUR mind, but they are just an employee that is likely thinking about their "actual" life back home. Thats OK as we have accounted for that.

This is an *excellent* post. Well done.

Creating systems that consistently work better than the creator should be the goal of every entrepreneur.

I think the biggest reason that 90% of entrepreneurs don't put systems into place is the same reason that don't learn how to effectively outsource. They simply do not believe that anyone can accomplish the task as well as they can. Therefore, they must do everything themselves. It's really difficult to convince someone that doing it better personally is detrimental to growing the business exponentially.

 

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[Two Dog]

When thinking about which systems to automate first, I think about 3 factors.

1. Which of my processes are super simple and only take a few steps to do?
2. Which of my processes take me the most amount of time?
3. Which of my processes are least consequential to the core of the business if there are small mistakes?

That's funny. We completely agree on #1 and #2. Then we completely disagree on #3.

My take: #3. Which of my processes is the most detrimental to the business when done manually?

Alternate #3: Which of my most high value processes can be fully automated?

Basically, I don't care about automating things that have small effects. Who cares about streamlining the process of returning widgets when only one out of every four thousand get returned? For someone starting out with building systems, they should absolutely start with your #3. That's because they're going to make dumb mistakes and have a lot of things to learn.

However, you'd best move to one of my #3 versions shortly after passing System Building 101. Otherwise, you're just diddling around with stuff that doesn't matter while pretending you're doing something useful. There's no way you achieved that exit without putting systems in place for the big boy stuff, but I'm actually really curious whether that's true or not.

 

[NeoDialectic]

That's funny. We completely agree on #1 and #2. Then we completely disagree on #3.

My take: #3. Which of my processes is the most detrimental to the business when done manually?

Alternate #3: Which of my most high value processes can be fully automated?

Basically, I don't care about automating things that have small effects. Who cares about streamlining the process of returning widgets when only one out of every four thousand get returned? For someone starting out with building systems, they should absolutely start with your #3. That's because they're going to make dumb mistakes and have a lot of things to learn.

However, you'd best move to one of my #3 versions shortly after passing System Building 101. Otherwise, you're just diddling around with stuff that doesn't matter while pretending you're doing something useful. There's no way you achieved that exit without putting systems in place for the big boy stuff, but I'm actually really curious whether that's true or not.

I think I understand your perspective and from it I completely agree with your #3s. My perspective when writing this guide is based on who will read it and what kind of game plan would benefit them the most. The person that needs to read and implement my advice the most:

1. Doesn't have experience implementing systems, outsourcing and/or hiring
2. Is hesitant about others being able to grasp and take over their jobs

When I myself needed this advice, I think you would be hard pressed to convince me to outsource my most important tasks first. That hesitation is probably even for good reason. We all know that given the chance we should try new things during practice instead of game time or the championship! Once you see the results in action and start becoming a believer, #4 will definitely be one of your #3s!

Thoughts?

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

That's funny. We completely agree on #1 and #2. Then we completely disagree on #3.

My take: #3. Which of my processes is the most detrimental to the business when done manually?

Alternate #3: Which of my most high value processes can be fully automated?

Basically, I don't care about automating things that have small effects. Who cares about streamlining the process of returning widgets when only one out of every four thousand get returned? For someone starting out with building systems, they should absolutely start with your #3. That's because they're going to make dumb mistakes and have a lot of things to learn.

However, you'd best move to one of my #3 versions shortly after passing System Building 101. Otherwise, you're just diddling around with stuff that doesn't matter while pretending you're doing something useful. There's no way you achieved that exit without putting systems in place for the big boy stuff, but I'm actually really curious whether that's true or not.

This is why the systems are typically referred to only as “critical processes.” You wouldn’t build a system for a non-critical process (at least not until all the critical ones are solved).

 

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[Two Dog]

When I myself needed this advice, I think you would be hard pressed to convince me to outsource my most important tasks first.

Thoughts?

No doubt! It fits right in with my short list of chronic business coaching failures over the years.

With rare exceptions, I can't convince any founder / business owner to:

• increase prices
• fire crappy workers
• fire crappy customers
• outsource ANY work (much less high value work) due to perceived time/money/hassle to find/hire/train effective people who can do it better. I don't even bother distinguishing between contractors and employees any more. As long as it's not the founder / owner doing it.

All of which translates to owning a job that sucks up every available hour while complaining about it. Sigh. I completely get why people are reluctant to make those changes. We all started from the same place. I'm just not at all clear on what things need to happen for founders to really commit to putting systems in place and removing themselves from the business.

Was there a particular tipping point for both of you to start being hands off?

 

[Two Dog]

Have you ever seen this article from Paul Graham of Y Combinator?

Do Things That Don't Scale
Do Things that Don't Scale
Do Things That Don't Scale: An Uncover Example

It's been on my mind while committing to another startup launch. Putting the machine together from scratch without any instruction guide is always frustrating, but fun at the same time. Paul's take on doing things manually at first contains a lot of wisdom.