# Delete the step before you document it
Systems · practice · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/07-02-delete-the-step-before-you-document-it.html

## The starting point

You want to document a step so someone else can do it.

## The move

Before you write it down, ask what it produces, and for whom. Then choose: remove it, simplify it, automate it, or document it.

## Why it works

Documenting a useless step makes it permanent. A well-written procedure gives the impression that every step has a reason. Sometimes it no longer does.

A team copies a reference from a form into a spreadsheet. Before deleting the copy, they find the spreadsheet is used to spot incomplete files. The need is that check. A small integration keeps the check and removes the chore.

If nobody knows why a step exists, look before you delete: whoever set up the flow, the records, the people who depend on it. A protection can matter even with no recent incident.

An automation has to be checked, maintained, and one day it breaks. For a rare step, a clear explanation is enough.

## Try this

On a step you have to document, first write down what it produces, for whom, and what would be missing if it disappeared. Ask the person who knows the flow.

Then choose: remove, simplify, automate, document. Try it on a few cases, with a way back.

Keeping the step is a good outcome too, if you now know why.

## To discuss

Which step are we documenting without knowing what it produces?