The 60,000 Minute Problem: Why SOP Creation is Broken

Let’s do the maths.

Some councils and mid-sized organisations have hundreds, even thousands of procedures that should be documented as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

At an average of 60 minutes per SOP, that’s 60,000 minutes.
Or in plain English: 1,000 hours of admin.

That’s 25 weeks. More than half a year.
And that’s just to create them.

We haven’t even touched the hours wasted maintaining them, searching for them, or fixing the mistakes caused by missing or outdated SOPs.

This is the 60,000 Minute Problem. And it’s why SOPs, as most councils and organisations know them today, are broken.

Why SOPs matter (and why they drive everyone mad)

SOPs aren’t optional.

• They keep you compliant when the auditors come knocking.

• They stop key knowledge walking out the door when staff leave.

• They prove to regulators (and your community) that you’ve got procedures under control.

The problem? They’re hated by everyone.

Managers hate chasing staff to “just write the procedure down.”
Staff hate creating them because it feels like paperwork for paperwork’s sake.
New hires hate using them because half the time they’re buried in a 79-page PDF last updated in 2019.

If you’ve ever heard “just ask Sharon, she knows how to do it”, you know exactly how broken the system is.

The real cost of SOPs

The 60,000 Minute Problem isn’t just about the time it takes to create SOPs. It’s about everything that happens afterwards.

• Maintenance madness: SOPs need updating every time a system or procedure changes. Most never are.

• Scavenger hunts: Staff waste hours trying to find the right doc in SharePoint, OneNote, or someone’s desktop.

• Inconsistency: Different teams format SOPs differently (or don’t at all). Some are detailed novels, others are two bullet points and a smiley face.

• Compliance chaos: Outdated SOPs = audit nightmares.

Multiply that across hundreds of procedures, and you’ve got a hidden cost running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted staff time, compliance risk, and delayed projects.

How we got here (and why it’s not your fault)

Most SOPs today live in a Frankenstein mix of Word docs, PDFs, SharePoint folders, and screenshots.

Different departments use different tools:

• Finance uses Word.

• HR uses OneNote.

• Field services send SOPs around by email.

• IT dumps them in SharePoint.

The result? A patchwork of SOPs that no one can find, no one can govern, and no one trusts.

This isn’t because your teams are lazy. It’s because SOP tools haven’t kept up with how we actually work.

When procedures change weekly (sometimes daily), asking staff to manually document and format everything is unrealistic.

The broken SOP lifecycle

Here’s what usually happens in councils and mid-sized organisations:

Sound familiar? This is why SOP creation feels like busywork. Because in its current form, it is.

Why the old way doesn’t scale

The truth is, SOP creation the old way (manual, document-heavy, one procedure at a time) doesn’t scale.

It doesn’t work for councils with high staff turnover and constant compliance requests.
It doesn’t work for organisations juggling dozens of software systems.
It doesn’t work when teams are already drowning in emails, forms, and audits.

The old way assumes staff have hours free to write “mini manuals.”
They don’t.

And the kicker? The people who know the procedure best (frontline staff) are usually the least likely to have time to write it down.

A better way forward

So what’s the alternative?

Instead of staff spending 60 minutes manually writing a SOP…

• AI can capture it in 5 minutes.

• Screenshots are taken automatically.

• Steps are recorded as you work.

• Docs are standardised in a single format.

• Everything is stored in one governed location.

That’s the difference between 60,000 minutes and 5,000 minutes.
Between SOPs being a hated chore and SOPs being a helpful tool.

What this means for councils & mid-sized orgs

Imagine:

• Faster onboarding: New hires follow clear, up-to-date SOPs embedded directly into workflows.

• Less staff drain: Existing staff aren’t constantly pulled away to re-explain tasks.

• Audit readiness: Every SOP is traceable, standardised, and version-controlled.

• Continuous improvement: Teams update SOPs as they work, not six months later (or never).

For councils, this could mean faster LGOIMA responses, smoother ERP rollouts, and less risk during audits.

For mid-market businesses, it could mean scaling operations without scaling headcount.

Why fixing SOPs unlocks everything else

Broken SOPs don’t just waste time – they hold back your entire transformation journey.

• You can’t automate a procedure you haven’t standardised.

• You can’t train staff on systems without reliable SOPs.

• You can’t prove compliance without auditable procedures.

Fixing SOPs is the foundation for everything else: mapping, automation, and better service delivery.

💬 Final word

The 60,000 Minute Problem isn’t just a number. It’s a symbol of how much time, energy, and opportunity organisations waste trying to do SOPs the old way.

The good news? You don’t have to accept it.

With AI-driven SOPs, what once took 60 minutes now takes 5.
What once drained staff now empowers them.
What once got buried in SharePoint hell now lives in a single, trusted platform.

It’s time to stop burning thousands of hours a year on documentation nobody uses – and start building SOPs your teams will actually thank you for.