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It Services Managed It Guide
Writing Down How Your Business Runs
Master the core concepts of writing down how your business runs tailored specifically for the It Services Managed It industry.
💡 Core Concepts & Executive Briefing
Understanding Brain-Dumping and SOPs
In Managed IT, SOPs aren’t “nice to have.” They’re what keeps your service consistent when you’re juggling alerts, tickets, renewals, and client escalations. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are the playbooks your team follows every time—so a new technician, a junior analyst, or a contractor can deliver the same quality you do.
The goal is simple: design your SOPs so a new hire can be about 80% effective on day one by following documented steps. That means fewer “Where do I find that?” questions, fewer mistakes during onboarding, and less founder heroics. For example, you shouldn’t need to be on a screen share to guide someone through “how we respond to a phishing alert” or “how we apply RMM remediation steps.”
The Importance of Brain-Dumping
Brain-dumping is the process of taking what you already know—held in your head from years of experience—and converting it into steps your team can repeat. In Managed IT, this includes your judgment calls, your checklists, your troubleshooting patterns, and your internal standards.
If you don’t document this knowledge, your business becomes too dependent on you. That slows growth because every new ticket, every new client onboarding, and every recurring task pulls you back into execution.
Real-World IT Services Example: You know that when a client says “Wi-Fi is slow,” the first move is to verify router settings, check recent configuration changes, review signal strength, and then confirm if the issue is localized or network-wide. If you keep that process only in your head, your team will improvise—leading to inconsistent outcomes and repeat tickets.
Creating Effective SOPs
Most SOPs fail because they’re written like essays instead of instructions. Use a clean structure that’s easy to follow under pressure.
1. Why: Start with why the task matters in Managed IT.
- Example: “We document this because phishing can spread fast, and we need consistent containment actions across clients.”
2. What: Detail the exact steps to follow.
- Example: “Open the ticket, identify the client’s email platform, confirm which users received the message, isolate endpoints, review mailbox rules, and document evidence.”
3. Outcome: Define what “done” looks like.
- Example: “Ticket is updated with remediation actions, endpoint status is confirmed, email forwarding rules are checked, and the client is notified with a standardized explanation.”
Real-World IT Services Example: If you’re writing an SOP for “New Client Password Reset & Access Check,” include what success means: all required accounts are reset, MFA is enabled, RMM agent status is verified, critical systems are reachable, and documentation is logged in the ticketing system.
Organizing Your SOPs
SOPs must be stored in a centralized location that your team can reach quickly—especially during an incident. If your SOPs live scattered across personal notes, emails, or random folders, they won’t get used.
You want an “SOP vault” that works like an operations library.
Real-World IT Services Example: Create a dedicated space inside your knowledge base (or a single folder in your documentation system) with clear labels like:
- “Onboarding” (Domain, RMM, Email, MFA)
- “Ticket Response” (First response SLA)
- “Common Alerts” (Ransomware indicators, disk space, downed agents)
- “Client Communication” (escalation templates)
Then, when someone gets an alert like “RMM agent offline,” they can find the “Agent Offline Response SOP” immediately.
The Loom-First Approach
Writing is slow. Recording is fast—and it captures the exact way you move through tools. Use Loom (or similar screen recording) to build visual SOPs.
Instead of describing every click, record the workflow while you perform it.
Real-World IT Services Example: Record yourself carrying out a standard “Exchange/M365 user mailbox access check” or “BitLocker recovery key verification process.” The video becomes a training asset your team can watch step-by-step when they’re learning—or when they’re troubleshooting.
Building a Culture of Self-Reliance
SOPs only work if they get used. Build a team habit: check the vault before asking the founder.
In Managed IT, this culture reduces downtime because the team starts with the correct playbook.
Real-World IT Services Example: If a technician asks, “How do we document a failed restore test for a client?” your team response is: “Pull up the Backup Restore Documentation SOP first. If the situation is different, note what changed and flag it for an SOP update.”
By brain-dumping and converting your expertise into SOPs, you create an IT Services operation that runs consistently—whether you’re on a site visit, handling a major incident, or focused on growing recurring revenue.
⚠️ The Industry Trap
### The “I’ll Just Tell Them” Delusion
In Managed IT, founders often rely on verbal instructions during busy moments—“Just do X if the agent is offline,” or “Call the client and say Y about the outage.” It feels faster in the moment. But it quietly turns your operation into a dependency.
Picture this: a junior technician is on shift, an RMM agent drops across multiple sites, and the client is already upset. Instead of following a documented “Agent Offline Response” playbook, they guess—leading to delayed checks, inconsistent remediation, and a chain of follow-up tickets. The incident becomes bigger, and your team learns the wrong habits. Verbal knowledge might survive for a week or two. But at the next surge in alerts, vacations, or hiring gaps, it breaks.
In Managed IT, founders often rely on verbal instructions during busy moments—“Just do X if the agent is offline,” or “Call the client and say Y about the outage.” It feels faster in the moment. But it quietly turns your operation into a dependency.
Picture this: a junior technician is on shift, an RMM agent drops across multiple sites, and the client is already upset. Instead of following a documented “Agent Offline Response” playbook, they guess—leading to delayed checks, inconsistent remediation, and a chain of follow-up tickets. The incident becomes bigger, and your team learns the wrong habits. Verbal knowledge might survive for a week or two. But at the next surge in alerts, vacations, or hiring gaps, it breaks.
📊 The Core KPI
Core SOPs in Searchable Hub: Track your “core” Managed IT processes and document them in a searchable SOP hub. Target: 100% completion of core processes (define your list) within 30 days, where each process has (1) steps, (2) success outcome, and (3) where to find the tool/report. Formula: Core SOPs Completed = (# core processes with a published SOP page) ÷ (total core processes) × 100%. Benchmark: reach at least 90% documented before adding new tech hires.
🛑 The Bottleneck
### Execution Level: Operations VA
In Managed IT, the bottleneck isn’t the number of tickets—it’s the amount of tribal knowledge behind each ticket. Many owners want to delegate, but when they try, they realize there’s no clean process to hand off.
A common scenario: your tech lead sends you ticket summaries for “approval,” because they’re not sure what to check first or how you want the final updates written. That turns every daily task into a founder review cycle. You end up functioning like an Operations VA—except you’re busy with “where do I click?” and “what do we say to the client?” instead of running the business.
The fix is to document the repeatable workflows your team already asks you about: first response steps, escalation triggers, incident documentation standards, and client update templates.
In Managed IT, the bottleneck isn’t the number of tickets—it’s the amount of tribal knowledge behind each ticket. Many owners want to delegate, but when they try, they realize there’s no clean process to hand off.
A common scenario: your tech lead sends you ticket summaries for “approval,” because they’re not sure what to check first or how you want the final updates written. That turns every daily task into a founder review cycle. You end up functioning like an Operations VA—except you’re busy with “where do I click?” and “what do we say to the client?” instead of running the business.
The fix is to document the repeatable workflows your team already asks you about: first response steps, escalation triggers, incident documentation standards, and client update templates.
✅ Action Items
### Steps to Implement SOPs
1. **Pick 5 “repeatable under pressure” processes first** (not everything).
- Examples: “RMM agent offline,” “disk space alerts,” “phishing containment steps,” “new client onboarding—RMM + MFA,” “backup restore test documentation.”
2. **Record the workflow with Loom while you do the real task**.
- Record: what you open, what you check, what you do next, and what you log in the ticket.
3. **Have a teammate convert recordings into SOP pages**.
- SOP format to require: “Why,” “What to do (numbered steps),” “Outcome (what success looks like),” “Screenshots/video link,” and “Common mistakes.”
4. **Store everything in one searchable location**.
- Create an SOP hub in Notion/Confluence/Google Drive with categories like Onboarding, Alerts, Incidents, and Client Communication.
5. **Train the habit: “SOP first” before asking the owner**.
- For any question, your standard is: “Is there an SOP? If not, add a ‘SOP request’ note to the tracker so it gets documented next.”
6. **Audit weekly and update after real incidents**.
- After major ticket types, update the SOP within 48 hours so the next technician handles it faster and cleaner.
1. **Pick 5 “repeatable under pressure” processes first** (not everything).
- Examples: “RMM agent offline,” “disk space alerts,” “phishing containment steps,” “new client onboarding—RMM + MFA,” “backup restore test documentation.”
2. **Record the workflow with Loom while you do the real task**.
- Record: what you open, what you check, what you do next, and what you log in the ticket.
3. **Have a teammate convert recordings into SOP pages**.
- SOP format to require: “Why,” “What to do (numbered steps),” “Outcome (what success looks like),” “Screenshots/video link,” and “Common mistakes.”
4. **Store everything in one searchable location**.
- Create an SOP hub in Notion/Confluence/Google Drive with categories like Onboarding, Alerts, Incidents, and Client Communication.
5. **Train the habit: “SOP first” before asking the owner**.
- For any question, your standard is: “Is there an SOP? If not, add a ‘SOP request’ note to the tracker so it gets documented next.”
6. **Audit weekly and update after real incidents**.
- After major ticket types, update the SOP within 48 hours so the next technician handles it faster and cleaner.
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