Most SOPs are written for legal cover, not for use — they live in a Confluence page nobody opens, with “ensure that X is done” instead of testable steps. These prompts force a single named owner, verb-led steps, a success check per step, and an edge-case appendix so the SOP actually gets followed when the person who wrote it is on PTO. Pair with handover document prompts when documenting role-level knowledge transfer.
Best for
- Onboarding new hires
- Support / ops processes
- Engineering on-call runbooks
- Compliance procedures
- Customer-facing workflows
1. 1-page SOP template
Draft a 1-page SOP for "{process}". Format: 1 line on purpose, named owner, trigger, 5-9 numbered steps each starting with a verb, success criterion, escalation path. ≤400 words.2. Onboarding-day-1 SOP
Draft a day-1 onboarding SOP for a new {role} hire. Inputs: {team, tools, access lists}. Output: 8 numbered steps, owner of each, time to complete, success checks. Include "what if buddy is unavailable" fallback.3. Support-ticket triage SOP
Draft a support-ticket triage SOP. Inputs: {ticket categories, severity bands, SLA}. Output: numbered triage steps, decision tree for severity, named escalation paths, response-time targets.4. On-call runbook
Draft an on-call runbook for {service}. Trigger: {alert}. Output: 6 steps, expected log/metric to check, 3 most common causes, links to dashboards, when to wake up the next engineer.5. Refund / chargeback SOP
Draft a refund SOP. Conditions: {policy}. Output: numbered eligibility checks, decision matrix (auto / manual / escalate), customer-facing message templates, log requirements.6. Release / deployment SOP
Draft a release SOP for {service}. Inputs: {CI, env, rollback method}. Output: pre-release checklist, deployment steps, post-release verification, rollback trigger criteria, comms cadence.7. Compliance / audit SOP
Draft a compliance procedure for "{control}". Reference: {framework — SOC2 / GDPR / HIPAA}. Output: who runs the control, frequency, evidence to capture, review path, escalation if fails.8. Customer-onboarding SOP
Draft a customer-onboarding SOP from contract signature to first-value moment. Output: 6 phases, owner of each, success check per phase, communication touchpoints, what gates the next phase.9. SOP edge-case appendix
Below is an SOP for "{process}". Add an edge-case appendix: top 6 edge cases the current SOP does not cover, how to handle each, and which step to insert the link under.
{paste SOP}10. SOP simplification pass
Below is an overly long SOP. Cut to ≤50% length without losing any critical step. Group similar steps. Add 1 line on the success check for each step.
{paste}11. SOP testability check
Below is an SOP. For each step, mark whether it is testable (someone can verify it was done). For untestable steps, rewrite with a concrete check.
{paste}12. SOP-to-checklist converter
Convert this SOP into a checklist someone can run in 10 min on a real ticket. Output: ≤12 checkboxes, each ≤15 words. Then a 1-line "what to do if any check fails".
{paste SOP}Common mistakes
- No named owner per step — “the team” owns nothing
- Steps not verb-led (“ensure that X is done”) — readers can’t act on it
- No success criterion — operator finishes step 4 unsure if they actually did step 4
- No edge cases or “what if” branches — first weird situation breaks the SOP
- SOP not dated or versioned — readers can’t tell if it’s current
- SOP that never gets reviewed after a process changes — silent rot
Related
- Process improvement prompts
- Handover document prompts
- Meeting agenda prompts
- Project planning prompts
- Workflow bottleneck analysis prompts
- Executive summary prompts
Tags: #Prompt #Productivity #SOP