Docs
"The palest ink is better than the best memory." — Chinese proverb
Your brain is for having ideas, not storing them. Docs get processes out of your head and into a system you can search instead of remember. This chapter is the concrete version: the actual SOP format, templates, and AI prompts I use. Less preaching, more steal-this.
One home for the truth, always. The moment a process lives in a doc AND a Slack message AND your memory, none of them is trusted. Pick one place and link to it religiously — every Slack answer becomes "it's in the doc: <link>."
SOPs people actually follow
An SOP is just "here's exactly how we do this thing." Bad SOPs are essays; good SOPs are checklists. Nobody reads prose mid-task — they want numbered steps they can follow with one eye. Use this exact skeleton:
# How to launch a new Search campaign
Owner: Michael · Last updated: 2026-06-29 · Loom: <link>
Do this when: a new client's Search budget is approved.
1. Open Google Ads → [Account] → New Campaign
2. Set objective: Leads → Search
3. Import negative-keyword list "Master Negatives" (link)
4. Set budget = approved daily cap (check the proposal)
5. Build ad groups: one theme per group, max 10 keywords
6. Write 3 RSAs per group (use ;rsa snippet)
7. Set conversion tracking → confirm it fires (Tag Assistant)
8. Label the campaign: client_channel_YYYY-MM
Done when: campaign is ENABLED, conversion tracking shows a
test conversion, and you've posted "live ✅" in #client-x-ads.- Title = the task, in plain words. Verb-first steps, one action each: "Open…", "Set…", "Check…".
- Header line with owner + last-updated date + a Loom link for anything visual; always a "Done when…" line so they know they finished it correctly.
Write the SOP the next time you DO the task, not in some imaginary documentation sprint. Record a Loom while you work, then feed AI the transcript: "Turn this into a numbered SOP with a 'Done when' line. Verb-first steps, no fluff." The doc writes itself as a by-product of the work.
And keep them alive — a wrong SOP is worse than none. Process changes → fix the doc in the same breath, and bump the "Last updated" date.
Reusable proposal & report templates
Write every proposal from a blank page and you're donating hours to the void. The structure never changes client to client — only the specifics do. Lock the bones once:
# Proposal — {{CLIENT}}
1. The problem ← what's broken, in THEIR words (1 para)
2. Our approach ← how we fix it (3–5 bullets)
3. Scope ← what's in / explicitly what's out
4. Timeline ← phases + rough dates
5. Investment ← pricing, billing cadence
6. Why us ← 1 relevant proof point / result
7. Next steps ← the single action you want them to take- Proposal template — sections fixed, specifics as {{placeholders}}. Same for a monthly report (identical layout every time, so clients learn to read it at a glance) and a kickoff doc you send every new client without thinking.
Template + AI is the combo. Template guarantees you never drop a section; AI fills the {{placeholders}} for this client. Try: "Fill this proposal template. Client: <name>, a B2B SaaS doing $X MRR. Problem: <notes>. Keep it tight, no fluff, confident-but-plain tone." Speed AND polish — a trade-off you normally don't get to skip.
Speed beats perfection here. A solid proposal sent today beats the perfect one sent next week, after they signed with someone faster.
AI-assisted drafting & summarising
AI is the best thing to happen to docs. Two jobs it crushes: getting you off the blank page, and squashing long things into short ones. The prompts I keep on hand:
Draft from nothing
Draft a first-pass <onboarding email> for a new <PPC> client.
Context: <2 lines on the client + what we're doing>.
Audience: <busy founder>. Tone: warm, plain, confident, no jargon.
Keep it under 150 words. End with one clear next step.
Give me 2 versions.Summarise a long thing into action items
Here's a <client call transcript / 12-page doc / Slack thread>.
Give me:
- TL;DR (3 bullets)
- Decisions made
- Action items as: owner — task — due
Flag anything ambiguous as a question for me.
<paste>Tighten clunky prose
Rewrite this tighter and clearer. Lead with the ask.
Under 100 words, no corporate filler, keep my voice.
<paste>AI gets you 80% there fast — the last 20% is you. It doesn't know your client's quirks, your real numbers, or your judgement. Always read it before it ships with your name on it. A confident hallucination in a client proposal is not a good look.
Collaborative editing etiquette
The moment two people touch a doc, you need rules or it's overwrite chaos. In Google Docs specifically:
- Suggesting mode, not Editing, on someone else's doc. Top-right pencil → Suggesting (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + X). Owner sees and accepts, nothing gets silently rewritten.
- Comment to ask, edit to fix. Question? Comment + @mention (Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + M). Obvious typo? Just fix it. Resolve comments when handled so the doc doesn't fill with stale threads.
- One owner per doc — someone owns it being correct. Shared ownership means no ownership.
A comment with no @mention is a message shouted into an empty room. Tag the person or it didn't happen — nobody is watching a doc waiting for your note.
Organisation that survives you being busy
A doc you can't find doesn't exist. A brilliant SOP buried three folders deep with a name only past-you understood is worthless. Two rules fix 90% of it: name consistently, search first.
Naming convention (be boring, be consistent):
Acme — Monthly Report — 2026-06 ✅ sorts itself
report final v2 (real)(USE THIS).docx ❌ chaos
Dates always YYYY-MM-DD so they sort chronologically.
Prefix by type for filtering: SOP — … TPL — … PROP — …
Folder structure (flat, search-first):
/Clients
/Acme ← everything Acme lives here
/Globex
/Templates & SOPs ← the central library everything links to- One folder per client; don't build a ten-level maze. Flat + good names means search does the finding — and a central "Templates & SOPs" library everything else links to.
The best filing system is the one you actually maintain. If a structure takes effort to keep tidy, you won't — so keep it dumb-simple and lean on search. It's amazing how few people know how to use search…like seriously.
Get this right and your docs stop being scattered files and become a system — one that does the remembering so you can spend your brain on the work only you can do.