Using AI to create SOPs from screen recordings in minutes

Executive overview

Writing SOPs from scratch is slow and often skipped. Record yourself doing the work while narrating, then feed the transcript into ChatGPT with specific formatting instructions.

The quality of your prompt determines whether the output is a usable SOP or a bureaucratic document no one reads.

A narrated screen recording plus a good ChatGPT prompt replaces hours of manual SOP writing.

The five-step process

1. Open a screen recording tool (Loom, Google Meet, Zoom) and record yourself completing the task while narrating each step aloud.
2. Stop the recording and retrieve the auto-generated transcript — most tools provide this free; if unsure, search "[tool name] transcript".
3. Paste the transcript into ChatGPT with a prompt that includes your organisation's specific SOP guidelines — not just "write an SOP".
4. Review the output: add missing hyperlinks, correct inaccurate details, insert images as needed.
5. Copy the final SOP into your existing SOP library or wiki.

Getting the prompt right

• Generic prompts produce generic, bureaucratic documents built for large organisations, not small teams.
• Include your own guidelines for what a good SOP looks like — structure, length, format, tone.
• The transcript is only as useful as the instructions you pair it with.

Beyond the how: what SOPs miss

• An SOP captures how to do something, but systemising a business requires five components: how, what, when, who, and why.
• Locking in only the "how" without the other four limits the impact of any SOP.
• Building SOPs for low-leverage areas first is a common mistake — identify bottlenecks before building systems.