---
name: procedure-writer
description: Interviews the person who knows a task and turns their own words into a numbered standard operating procedure (SOP) with safety points, decision points and a done-when line, checks it for gaps, and sends it for that person's agreement and the owner's approval. Use when an owner says a task lives in one person's head, when the same staff question keeps coming back unanswered, or when setup sheets, how-to pages or handbook procedures need drafting from an interview, notes or a voice memo.
metadata:
  ahl-category: people
  ahl-jobs: training
  ahl-industries: manufacturing, print-shop, handyman, restaurant
  ahl-workflows: people--04-draft-missing-procedures, people--2159-manufacturing-setup-sheet-drafts, people--2184-print-shop-press-and-finishing-how-to-library, people--1209-handyman-new-technician-onboarding-checklists
  ahl-human-check: The person interviewed agrees the draft, and the owner approves it (line by line for cash, chemicals and safety steps) before it joins the handbook.
  ahl-proposed-status: approved
  ahl-version: 1
  ahl-sources: |
    Anthropic — Skill authoring best practices — https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/best-practices — 2026-10-06
---

# Procedure writer

Gets a task out of one person's head and onto one page that a new person can
follow. The person who does the task is the source of every step; the agent
asks, writes and checks, and never fills a gap with its own idea of the job.

## Inputs

- The task the owner picked and the person who knows it best (by role).
- The interview: live chat, a typed-up conversation, or a transcribed voice
  memo. Photos the person took are welcome; describe them, do not guess what
  they show.
- The business's template, if it has one (a setup sheet, a how-to page);
  otherwise the shape of `examples/expected-procedure.md`.

## Steps

```
- [ ] 1 Interview
- [ ] 2 Draft in the person's words
- [ ] 3 Check against the checklist
- [ ] 4 Gap questions back to the person
- [ ] 5 Person agrees
- [ ] 6 Owner approves
```

1. **Interview.** Ask, in this order, one question at a time:
   - What starts this task? What do you need before you begin?
   - What do you do first? Then? (repeat until the end)
   - How do you know each step worked? What do you look at or listen for?
   - What goes wrong, and what do you do then? Whom do you call?
   - Where could a new person get hurt or damage something?
   - How do you know you are done?

   Ask for the actual value when the person gives a vague one ("a bit",
   "a while"); if they say the owner decides, write that, not a number. The
   person can stop at any time. See `examples/interview-walk-in-power-cut.md`.
2. **Draft.** Title, version line ("Draft v1, interviewed <role> on <date>,
   not yet approved"), when to use this, you need, numbered steps, done when,
   if it goes wrong. One action per step, starting with a verb. Decision points
   as indented "Running: go to step 6 / Not running: go to step 5". A risk the
   person mentioned goes on the step as `Safety: ...` so the
   training-quiz-from-procedure skill can find it.
3. **Check.** Go through `reference/procedure-checklist.md` item by item.
4. **Gaps.** Every "no" becomes a question below a `---` line, addressed to
   the person, never answered by you. Safety points that sound incomplete are
   also flagged to the owner.
5. **Agree.** The person reads the draft and the questions. Rewrite with their
   answers; repeat steps 3 and 4 until no gap is left or the remaining ones
   are marked open.
6. **Approve.** Send the draft to the owner as a draft through the AHL Action
   Gateway (`gmail.draft` or `manual.draft`, see the gateway-call skill). The
   owner reads it, ideally watches someone new follow it once, and approves.
   Only then does the version line change to "Approved by the owner on <date>".

## Output

One procedure per task in the format of `examples/expected-procedure.md`, with
its gap questions and the interview it came from, stored where the owner keeps
the handbook.

## Edge cases

- **The person says the task is unsafe or a step is a shortcut:** write the
  step as they do it, mark it, and tell the owner; the owner decides the
  approved way.
- **Manufacturer or legal rules** (chemicals, electrical, food temperatures,
  lifting): the agent does not add them. The owner adds them from the
  manufacturer's sheet or their adviser, and the procedure cites that sheet.
- **Two people do it differently:** write both, side by side, and let the owner
  choose; never average them.
- **Codes, combinations, passwords:** the procedure says where they are kept
  ("the owner gives you the alarm code"), never the code.
- **Personal details in the interview** (a staff member's health, a customer's
  name): leave them out of the draft.

## Never

- Never invent a step, a number, a setting or a safety rule the person did not give.
- Never publish a procedure to the handbook or a staff app before the owner approves it.
- Never record an interview without the person knowing, or keep the recording
  after the draft is agreed unless the owner asks.
- Never send drafts to staff or post them to a client system directly, or hold
  a password; drafts go through the gateway with the owner's agent token, read
  from the environment and never written to a file.

## Hand over

The person interviewed confirms the steps match what they do; the owner checks
every safety, cash and chemical step line by line and approves. Leave the
approved procedure, its interview and its open questions together.

# Restart the walk-in cooler after a power cut (back kitchen)

Draft v1, interviewed the head cook on 2026-10-06, not yet approved.

**When to use this:** the power has been off and has come back.

**You need:** the clipboard temperature sheet, a pen, your phone.

1. Keep the walk-in door shut while the power is off.
2. When the power is back, go to the breaker panel in the back hall.
   Safety: the panel is next to the mop sink; dry your hands before you touch it.
3. Check the breaker labelled WALK-IN is on.
4. Listen for the walk-in fan.
   - Running: go to step 6.
   - Not running: go to step 5.
5. Switch the WALK-IN breaker off and on once. If the fan still does not run,
   call the refrigeration company on the number on the door sticker, then the owner.
6. Open the door, read the thermometer hanging inside it, and close the door.
7. Write the temperature and the time on the clipboard sheet.
8. Call the owner with the reading and how long the power was off. The owner
   decides whether anything is thrown away.

**Done when:** the fan is running, the reading is on the sheet and the owner knows.

**If it goes wrong:** call the owner. Fridge repairs: the sticker on the door.

---

Gap questions for the head cook (from reference/procedure-checklist.md):

1. Step 6: how long can the door be open while you read the thermometer?
2. Step 8: do you also note on the sheet that you called the owner?
3. Is there a second cooler or freezer that needs the same steps?

For the owner: step 8 leaves the food decision to you, as the cook said. If you
follow a food-safety rule for this, add it yourself or with your adviser; the
draft does not include one.

# Interview transcript (invented: Test Corner Café, the head cook, typed up)

**Agent:** Which task are we writing down today?
**Cook:** What we do with the walk-in cooler when the power comes back after a cut.

**Agent:** What is the first thing you do?
**Cook:** Don't open the door while it's off. When the power is back, I check the breaker in the back hall is on, the one labelled WALK-IN.

**Agent:** Then?
**Cook:** I look at the little thermometer that hangs inside the door, and I write the temperature and the time on the sheet on the clipboard. If it's been off a long time I call the owner before I throw anything.

**Agent:** How long is "a long time"?
**Cook:** The owner decides that, I just call.

**Agent:** What goes wrong?
**Cook:** The fan sometimes doesn't start. You hear it or you don't. If it doesn't, I switch the breaker off and on once. If it still doesn't, I call the fridge company, the number's on the sticker on the door.

**Agent:** How do you know you're done?
**Cook:** Fan's running, the reading's written down, and the owner knows.

**Agent:** Anything a new person might get hurt doing?
**Cook:** The breaker panel's by the mop sink. Dry your hands first.

# Procedure checklist

Run every draft through this list before the person who knows the task sees
it. Each "no" becomes a gap question for that person, never a guess.

The list follows the review step of the library's "draft missing procedures"
workflow (content/workflows/people--04-draft-missing-procedures.md): every step
has one action, safety points are included, nothing assumes knowledge a new
person would not have.

## The draft

- [ ] Title says the task and the place ("Close the walk-in after a power cut, back kitchen").
- [ ] "When to use this" names the trigger in one line.
- [ ] "You need" lists every tool, key, product and login (the login by name only, never the password).
- [ ] Steps are numbered; each step starts with a verb and holds one action.
- [ ] Every number, setting, time or quantity came from the person's own words.
- [ ] Every "watch out for" the person mentioned is in, next to its step, starting `Safety:` when it is about harm to people.
- [ ] Each decision point says what to look at and what to do in each case ("If the fan is not running, go to step 5").
- [ ] "Done when" says how you know the task is finished.
- [ ] "If it goes wrong" says whom to call and how.
- [ ] No jargon a new starter would not know, or it is explained once.
- [ ] Nothing about a named customer, staff member's personal details, codes or passwords.

## Gaps to ask about

- A step that says "check it" without saying what good looks like.
- A step the person did but did not say (you only know because step 5 needs it).
- An order that cannot work (switching on before filling).
- A safety point that sounds incomplete: ask the person and flag it to the owner;
  do not write your own rule.
- Anything involving cash, payments, medicines, chemicals or children: the owner
  checks those lines one by one.

## Before it goes to the owner

- [ ] The person who knows the task has read the draft and agreed it.
- [ ] Every gap question is answered or listed as open.
- [ ] Version line: "Draft v1, interviewed <role> on <date>, not yet approved".