Yes! This is a story about work manualization that everyone loves. A lot of people have talked about “Visualization of work”  and “Standardization of work”, so there is no doubt that manualization is very important when proceeding work.

So how urgent is it? Well, business visualization, standardization, and manualization tend to be delayed as we have our hands full with handling the tasks that bring in money such as marketing and sales and urgent tasks such as troubleshooting daily. Some organizations do not progress at all.

You will be asked again and again if there is no manual. Also, even “I decided to teach only once”, when the trainee leaves the department or takes a leave, the workload returns to myself in the end. Again, this consumes the same amount of time to teach.

However, when it comes time to make it, you cannot make it without enough time, and no one sees the benefits. so I feel like “giving it up.”

However, If you stop thinking, nothing will change.Let’s think about how you can make it quickly and what manuals people will see or need to see. Sooner or later you will have to create the manual for your company so stop pretending not to see it from today. 

By the way, you might wonder how many manuals I have made.

In my previous job, I made a manual with PPT until my right finger could not move (1,500 manuals, the same amount of  encyclopedia).  Also I have been creating an overwhelming amount of manuals within the company since Studist was established and continuously making the manuals. Even now, working as an overseas representative, I am still creating manuals.

According to a recent in-house manual creation report, I’m by far the best in total. Partly it may be because I am a member of  the company founders though…

Why did I create  so many manuals? It is because return on investment (ROI) is very high. In general it takes 30 min to complete the task. Even if you spend 15 min to create a manual (it doesn’t take much time and I can make it even faster), next time when the staff asks you about the same task, you just need to inform the person “please look at the manual.” It is just a few seconds. That’s it, this is a huge return on investment. Also, once you create it, you will enjoy the benefits every time whenever you ask for the same work.

It is an irreplaceable feeling when work is being organized and “moving away from you.”

If someone asks you a question about the contents of the manual, then you can teach them verbally. After that you can request the person who worked according to the contents of the manual to update the changes. This will improve the quality of the manual. By repeating this, you will be able to create a sufficient guidebook. 

If I know the contents of the task but there is no manual yet, I will request the staff to create after I teach them. When I look at the completed manual, I can tell the understanding level of the staff, and if the understanding is incorrect, I can point it out on the spot.

I don’t request a 100% perfect manual from the beginning.If I can understand the flow, it’s OK. It is several times more efficient than verbally teaching  by OJT *. 

*OJT: Omae Jamadakara Toriaezu yattoite.

So I’m also tolerant of manuals made by others. Even if there is omission, it is no problem. All you have to do is add a missing part and hand it down to the next generation.

Make your mind empty and make the manual as if you breathe. When I do something, I always aim to create a manual along with doing the task.

I will live in the world of  manual labor.

Next time, I will introduce an example of how our Thai branch, which has been in operation for 1.5 years, has created a manual (currently 130 manuals). Maybe, tomorrow!

I keep making manuals as my hobby.

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