Guides · Free course · Assign
Who Should Write Your Systems? (Hint: Not You)
The knowledge is already in your team. This lesson shows you how to get it out without doing it all yourself.
In 60 seconds
- The owner is usually the worst person to write the systems. Something more urgent always wins your day.
- Creating systems is a two-person job. The knowledgeable worker does the task while the Systems Champion writes it up.
- A simple plan showing who is doing what by when turns good intentions into progress.
This is stage two: Assign.
Most owners believe that if they want the systems done right, they'll have to write them themselves. I believed it too. It's a big reason businesses never get systemised.
You're the wrong person for three reasons. Systems are important but never urgent. Something else always wins. Your team does most of the work now, often better than you would. And if you write every system, every question still comes back to you.
Split the job in two
The know-how already lives in your team. Your job is to capture it.
- The knowledgeable worker is whoever does the task best. They do the task and talk through it while it's recorded.
- The Systems Champion turns that recording into a written system and keeps the project moving.
Most people would much rather check a draft than stare at a blank page. Split the job and the resistance melts away.
Find your Systems Champion
Look for the organised, detail-loving person who gets a kick out of things running smoothly. They don't need to be a manager. If nobody fits, hire for it. Half a day a week is enough to get started.
Make the plan
Take the systems from your CCF. For each one, write a name, a one-line description and the knowledgeable worker you'll capture it from. Group them by department: marketing, sales, operations, finance, HR and management.
In the book these are the DRTC and the Systems Assign Sheet. A simple spreadsheet does the same job.
Leave your own name off wherever you can. If it's on most departments right now, capture that honestly and work it off one box at a time.
Do this now (20 minutes)
- List your team and circle the organised finishers.
- Pick your Systems Champion and brief them with the free Systems Champion position description.
- Next to each CCF system, write the name of the person who does it best.
Free templates from the book: the DRTC and the Systems Assign Sheet.
Faster in systemHUB: invite your Systems Champion, set up a folder for each department and add each system as a draft with its knowledgeable worker as the document owner. Your plan then lives where the systems will live. Start a 14-day free trial, no card needed.
Real-world example
Renee Kelly runs Lime Therapy, an allied health practice with around 40 staff in rural and remote Australia. Renee's a big-picture person. The breakthrough came when they found a Systems Champion, Kaleb Grant, who wasn't a manager. He drove the process and early wins like invoicing followed. Renee and her husband Matt have since stepped back from the daily grind.
Fall in love with the result, not the doing. I'll leave it there for now.