BW-301h · Module 1

Too Long, Too Vague

4 min read

The playbook written to be comprehensive fails because comprehensiveness is the wrong goal. The person who consults a playbook in the moment of need does not want to read a document — they want to find the specific instruction they need, act on it, and continue. A fifty-page SOP that contains the relevant instruction on page thirty-seven is, in practice, useless. The person who cannot find the instruction in thirty seconds will default to experience, ask a colleague, or guess. The playbook is not consulted.

Do This

  • Write to the specific task or decision the reader faces — not to the entire topic
  • Use a table of contents or index that allows readers to locate their specific question in under fifteen seconds
  • Measure the right level of detail: enough to replace asking an expert, not so much that finding the relevant section requires being one
  • Limit each SOP to a single process or decision domain — separate SOPs for separate processes, even if they are related

Avoid This

  • Write a single playbook document that covers an entire function "comprehensively" — functional playbooks are encyclopedias, not tools
  • Include context and history that the document's author wants recorded but the reader never needs
  • Use long explanatory paragraphs where a numbered step list would serve — explanation is for training, not for the moment of execution
  • Prioritize thoroughness over usability — the playbook that covers everything and helps no one at the moment of need is decorative