3.4Quality documentation & procedures
The essentials in 30 seconds
- Useful pyramid: short policy, gestures at the workstation, archived evidence.
- Write to be applied: verbs, real photos, newcomer test.
- Control: single version, obsolete copies withdrawn, defined retention.
Threaded mini-case — Hakim replaces the novel with the instruction sheet
Hakim finds a twelve-page procedure for tightening four bolts — nobody reads it. With operator Karim, he replaces it with a laminated sheet: three photos of the real workstation, thresholds and a numbered wrench, dated version. A temp succeeds first time. Old versions are stamped and withdrawn from the workstation.
Continued from cases 3.1-3.3 — Hakim brings documentation to life at the workstation.
1. Just what is needed, where it is needed
Useful pyramid: a signed one-page policy, process sheets, procedures and work instructions at the workstation, records as evidence. Documentation serves the operator first.
Document just what is needed: critical, complex, risky activities or ones requiring consistency. The rest is know-how, not paper.
2. Write, release, expire
Action verbs, short sentences, photos of the real workstation, version, date and approver, review with users. Test: a newcomer succeeds first time by following the sheet.
Single version accessible, obsolete copies withdrawn (stamped, not thrown away), retention periods defined with management. To “which is the current version?”, only one possible answer.
🔎 Concrete example — An instruction sheet read in 30 seconds
Hakim posts the gesture, not the novel.
Title: Cover tightening (dated, approved version).
1. Position on the studs (photo).
2. Tighten crosswise to the posted value (photo).
3. Check the indicator and tick the sheet.
→ laminated at the workstation.Result: readable, with thresholds and real photos.
Reflex: re-read with the operator every year.
Section vocabulary
- Quality documentation
- Documents formalising how to work so it can be controlled: policy, procedures, records.
Simple example: Hakim's laminated sheet at the tightening workstation.
What it is not: a pile of papers made for the audit.
Reflex: for each document, ask “what is it for at the workstation?”.
- Procedure
- Describes how to carry out an activity (who does what, in what order). The work instruction details one precise task.
Simple example: Inspecting a delivery on arrival, step by step.
What it is not: an already completed sheet proving an action.
Reflex: action verbs and short sentences.
- Record
- Evidence of what was done: completed sheet, log, report.
Simple example: The day's ticked, signed inspection sheet.
What it is not: the instruction telling how to do it.
Reflex: after the action, keep the trace.
- Just what is needed
- Documenting what is useful (critical, complex, risky) and nothing else.
Simple example: Hakim documents tightening, not how to sweep.
What it is not: twelve pages for four bolts.
Reflex: if nobody reads it, delete or rewrite it.
- Document control
- Controlling versions, approval, release and withdrawal of expired copies.
Simple example: Single posted version, old ones stamped.
What it is not: paper, network and binder duplicates.
Reflex: one current version, one answer.
In practice — Managing quality documentation
- Distinguish policy, procedures, work instructions and records.
- Target just what is needed: critical, complex, risky.
- Write clearly and illustrated, with users.
- Control versions, release and withdrawal of expired copies.
Ready-to-say script — re-reading with the operator (1 min)
“Karim, let's re-read the sheet together: show me how you do it, tell me what jams. We fix the photo and the threshold today, date the version, and withdraw the old one from the workstation.”
Say it at the workstation, sheet in hand, with the operator.
Copy-paste template — workstation instruction sheet
TITLE: _______________ | VERSION / DATE / APPROVED BY: _______________
1. [PHOTO] _______________ (verb + threshold)
2. [PHOTO] _______________ (tool no. ___)
3. CHECK: _______________ + ticked sheet
LOCATION: _______________Very small business / tight budget
Phone photos, laminated printout, one page per critical gesture: effective with no software.
SME in Algeria
Hakim writes in the workshop's language and gets every threshold validated by the supervisor.
Temps
Test each sheet with a newcomer: if they fail, the sheet is rewritten, not the person blamed.
Digital
If binder and network coexist, designate a single current source and withdraw the other from the workstation.
✓ Best practices
- Post short and illustrated, at the workstation.
- Keep a single version, withdraw the rest.
- Test with a newcomer.
✗ Common pitfalls
- Writing twelve-page novels.
- Leaving paper and network duplicates.
- Writing without operators.
Key takeaways
- Policy, procedures, records: formalise to control.
- Just what is needed: critical, complex, risky.
- Clear, illustrated, current, accessible, with users.
- Procedures (how to do it) distinct from records (what was done).
48h challenge — apply it tomorrow
Rewrite 1 procedure as a one-page sheet (photos, verbs, thresholds) and withdraw 1 obsolete version from the workstation.
- I distinguish procedure (doing) from record (evidence).
- I know what just what is needed means.
- I have rewritten 1 sheet tested at the workstation.
Frequently asked questions
How do you avoid documentation bureaucracy?
Document just what is needed, start from reality with users, aim for clear, lived documents. Each document must have a use (passing on, guaranteeing consistency, tracing evidence); otherwise, do not create it. Bloated documentation costs, discredits and is never followed.
Procedure or record: what is the difference?
The procedure says how to do it (before and during, as a reference): standardise, pass on, control. The record proves what was done (after, as a trace): trace, demonstrate, analyse. Two complementary roles not to confuse.
A 12-page procedure for 4 bolts. Verdict?