Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Best Practices For Process Documentation?

Posted by kdawson on from the trusting-it-to-the-little-i dept.

jollyreaper writes "I have a nice new IT job with a non-profit. They are a growing organization and management has realized that they need to bring their way of doing business up to a professional level. Several years back, their IT department was still operated like it was in a home office — fine when you're dealing with three people, not so good when there's over a hundred users. IT got its act together and is now running professionally and efficiently. The rest of the organization is a bit more chaotic and management wants to change that. One of the worst problems is a lack of process documentation. All knowledge is passed down via an oral tradition. Someone gets hit by a bus and that knowledge is lost forevermore. Now I know what I've seen in the past. There's the big-binder-of-crap-no-one-reads method, usually used in conjunction with nobody-updates-this-crap-so-it's-useless-anyway approach. I've been hearing good things about company wikis, and mixed reviews about Sharepoint and its intranet capabilities. And yes, I know that this is all a waste of time if there's no follow-through from management. But assuming that the required support is there, how do you guys do process documentation?"

3 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Operational manual by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny


    (1) Avoid being hit by a bus.

    (2) Refer to 1.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. I say go the traditional route. by spazmonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    You could come up with new ways, of course, but why rock the boat. Just go with the tried and true way of handling these things in American corporate culture; Mandate all employees must stay away from buses.

      To accomplish this is quite simple:

      1. Create new management positions and dept. to determine and create new compliance metrics for appropriate bus avoidance.
      2. Create committee to determine and define best practices for avoiding buses.
      3. Hire PR firm to create awareness of above policies and create slick training videos to introduce employees to anti-bus methodology.
      4. Create HR sub-department in charge of enforcement and compliance to metrics with appropriate disciplinary board and/or retraining.

      See. Simple. Problem solved.

  3. Re:My approach by youthoftoday · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is no 3 because it's a non-profit...

    --
    -1 not first post