3 Characteristics of a Useful Operations Manual

A useful Franchise Operations Manual has a couple of characteristics that separates it from one that sits on a shelf, collecting dust. Conversely, without these three philosophies, we hear things like “no one ever reads it” (from franchisors), or “I can never find what I’m looking for” (from franchisees).

Useful information gets used (if it can be found). And what you think is useful might not be to your audience. Get to the point, tell them what they need to know, and provide resources for them to learn more.

All useful franchise operations manuals have these three things:

1. A defined audience and clear objectives
2. Summarized information, followed by details
3. Accountability

People read to do, not to know.

Who are your users, and what do they need from you?

Audience and objective are the keys to any communication. Ads, email messages, warning signs, instruction manuals, and guidebooks all depend on the authors getting this right.

Most don’t, at least not completely. Many amateur authors get the “objective” part right (what do I want them to know), but miss out on the “audience” part (what do they need to know, and how will they use the information).

A clear sign a manual misses its mark is when it’s too long and repeats itself. 

Audience: You know franchisees will be reading your manual, but when will they be using it (during training? during a crisis or problem?)? Will their employees use it? Do they have the same knowledge that franchise owners and managers have?

A simple and effective way to tell what your users need, when they’ll need it, and where they’ll be when they need it, is a tool called use cases. There are probably dozens of them for every franchise system, but it’s a simple formula:

As a [insert role: franchise owner, cashier, line cook, marketing manager]…
I need to [task or procedure: invoice customers, perform inventory, pay royalties, contact corporate]..
So that I can [get result: increase revenue, decrease costs, evacuate during an emergency].

Example: As a kitchen manager, I need access to oven diagrams, vendor contacts, and troubleshooting steps in order to fix the oven during lunch rush.

Use cases provide specific examples of the types of information needed, the level of detail that is sufficient, and the medium users will need to access information (on a mobile device, for example).

Objective: Long manuals, manuals that sit on shelves and collect dust, usually have the objective part of the equation flip-flopped. “Somebody might want [abc],” or “tell them this in case someone needs to [xyz]” lead to long-winded explanations, redundant messaging, and too many pages to be useful.

Objectives focus on outcomes. People read to do, not to know. What are the standards, the goals? What does “finished” look like? How do I do something right?

A laser-like focus on your audience (what info they need, when they need it, and where they’ll be) and objective (setting expectations, sticking to the facts, and defining the standards) is the most important thing you can do to make your franchise documentation useful over its lifetime.

When a user references your manual, they want an answer.

Summarize first, then get into the details

Remember, people read to do, not to know. Operations manuals are used as the basis for training and as a good overview for someone just coming into the system. But if you want users to reference it later, to refer back to it over the course of their tenure, to use it to train new people, you need to keep these use cases in mind.

“If someone wants to know what time it is, don’t tell them how to make a watch.”

When a user references your manual, they want an answer. Each topic should start with the answer, with a summary, then get to the details of how you arrived at the answer. Topic-based manuals, with clearly marked headings and sub-headings that follow a consistent and recognizable pattern for each subject, are not only easier to follow and digest, but also make it easier to find exactly what you need.

Make manual accuracy someone’s job

An operations manual spans the entire operations of your business, and has several contributing authors. Marketing, operations, accounting, legal…everyone comes together to be the subject matter experts for their topics when the manual is originally created. So far, so good.

Over time, the information changes. Maybe operational procedures get updated more often than the others (new vendors, new equipment, competitive pressure). Subject matter experts send memos, update job aids and training material, but who owns the operations manual now? 

A single owner to keep information up to date, accurate, and consistent is best practice.

Here’s the reality: no company wants to dedicate someone to writing and maintaining written documentation. Especially in a world with office suites, where everyone has the skills to use simple word-processing software, having someone solely responsible for updating something that took months to bring together (just add this to the accounting section!) seems wasteful.

Employee turnover and promotions, company growth and strategic change, distributed authorship, and new technology all contribute to “accuracy erosion”. Information now has multiple sources and owners, and the “single-source of truth” becomes outdated.

A single owner to keep information up to date, accurate, and consistent is best practice. A dedicated resource practicing strong governance rules will keep your manuals working as an asset instead of a liability.

But if you can’t dedicate the resource – or outsource to specialists – at least implement strong governance:

• An update schedule so that every topic is reviewed regularly
• An approval process to ensure all teams – especially legal – are aware of changes
• A publication schedule to make communication more effective
• Naming convention and version control to ensure only the most recent versions are available

And it’s important that a single role or person within your company be accountable for this governance. You can still have distributed authors, but one person/role/group needs to make sure all parts come together.

About Manual Makers

Manual Makers is a content and knowledge management agency with experienced advisors who help guide our clients through the process of documenting their knowledge. We work with emerging and established brands to remove barriers to growth. We love to talk to people about their franchise operations, and consultations are always free.