The capture kit
Get one role out of one person's head in 14 days.
Get one role out of one person's head in 14 days. The interview guide, knowledge map and SOP, checklist, video and quiz templates we use on paid engagements, free as a web app you use in your browser, plus Google Docs and Sheets.
Why one role
Owners who try to document everything never finish. The ones who get out start with one person, one role, and the few processes that carry the most risk.
The Knowledge Ladder
The Knowledge Ladder is a six-level framework for capturing what one person knows about their job: Role, Process, Task, Decision, Exception and Wisdom. You climb it top to bottom in the interview and fill it bottom to top in the documents. It is published by The Systems Effect as part of the free Knowledge Capture Kit.
- Level 01
Role
What the seat owns, who hands work to it, what it is measured on, and who covers it.
Lands in: Knowledge Map, Roles tab
- Level 02
Process
Each repeated piece of work: what starts it, what done looks like, and why it exists.
Lands in: Knowledge Map, Inventory tab
- Level 03
Task
The step by step, recorded while the person who does the work does it on screen.
Lands in: SOP, checklist, video script
- Level 04
Decision
Every fork in the work: what triggers it, the default rule, the exception, and who owns it.
Lands in: SOP decision blocks
- Level 05
Exception
What goes wrong, what it costs, the workarounds, and the customers or jobs that are handled differently.
Lands in: SOP exceptions, knowledge check
- Level 06
Wisdom
The always and never rules behind the expert's judgment, each with the story that made it a rule.
Lands in: Video intros, knowledge check scenarios
The Three Catches
On every rung of the Ladder, the interview is listening for the same three things.
- 01
The purpose
Why the work exists and what breaks if it stops for a month. Without it, the next person follows the steps and misses the point.
- 02
The decision points
Where the work stops and waits for someone to choose. Each one written as a rule a new hire could follow without calling the expert.
- 03
The step by step
From the person who actually does the work, recorded while they do it. Not from their manager, and not from memory.
What is in the kit
- 00Start Here DocThe 14-day run sheet: which role to pick, what to do each day, and when to stop doing it yourself.
- 01Knowledge Map SheetEvery process the role owns, scored for risk, with the share of it that is actually written down.
- 02Role Interview Guide Doc52 questions across the six levels of the Ladder, with the follow-up probes that get past the polite answer.
- 03Asset Templates DocSOP, one-page checklist, training video script and a five-question knowledge check, all built from one interview.
- 04Rollout Checklist DocValidate it with the expert, hand it to a backup, and get the team actually using it in the next 30 days.
- 05Worked Example: Office Manager DocEvery template filled in for one real process, invoicing and chasing payment, so you can see what done looks like.
How to run it in 14 days
- Day 1
Map the role
Pick one role held by one person. List every repeated piece of work it owns in the Knowledge Map and let the sheet rank them by risk.
- Days 2 to 3
Find the decisions
Run the first interview on Levels 1, 2 and 4. Where does the work stop and wait for this person to choose? Write each answer as a rule.
- Days 4 to 8
Record the work
One recorded session per top process. The expert shares their screen and does the work while you ask the Level 3, 5 and 6 questions.
- Days 9 to 11
Build the assets
Draft the SOP from the recording while it is fresh, then the checklist, the video clips and the knowledge check from the SOP.
- Days 12 to 14
Validate and hand off
A backup runs the process from the SOP while the expert watches and corrects. The expert signs off. The backup passes the check.
Ten of the 52 questions
The full guide in the kit has every question with why it matters, the follow-up probes, and space to write the answers.
- Opener
What are you so good at here that nobody else can do it?
- Role
If you were out tomorrow with no warning, who picks this up, and how would they know something needs action?
- Role
What does a new hire in this seat get wrong in the first month?
- Process
Why does this process exist? What breaks if it stops for a month?
- Task
Show me the last time you did this. Do it again, right now, and talk while you work.
Probe: You said "then I process it." Show me the clicks.
- Decision
Say the rule in one sentence someone could follow without calling you.
Probe: What breaks that rule, and who decides when it does?
- Decision
Any number in that rule: what is it, who set it, and when?
- Exception
Tell me about the last time it went sideways. What did you do first?
- Wisdom
What is the mistake that changed how you work?
- Wisdom
If you had one hour to train your replacement, what would you spend it on?
Questions
How do I document what an employee knows before they leave?
Start with one role and one person. List every repeated piece of work they own, rank it by how much would break without them, and interview them on the top few while they do the work on screen. Capture the purpose, the decision points and the step by step, then have a backup run it from the document while the expert corrects it. The Knowledge Capture Kit lays this out over 14 days.
What questions should I ask an employee to document their job?
Ask about the role first (what they own, who they hand work to), then each process (why it exists, what done looks like), then the work itself while they do it. The questions that matter most are about decisions and exceptions: say the rule in one sentence, what breaks it, and the last time it went wrong. The kit's interview guide has 52 questions across those six levels, with follow-up probes.
Is there a free template for capturing tribal knowledge?
Yes. The Knowledge Capture Kit from The Systems Effect is a free set of Google Docs and Sheets: a role interview guide, a knowledge map that scores risk and coverage, SOP, checklist, video script and knowledge check templates, a rollout checklist, and a fully worked example. It is the same structure we use on paid engagements.
How do I write an SOP from an interview or a screen recording?
Write it while the recording is fresh. Use one action header per step ("Match the PO to the invoice") with one to three lines under each, and put a decision block under any step where the work forks: the trigger, the default rule, the exception and who owns it. Leave anything the expert did not answer as an open gap rather than guessing at it.
How long does it take to document one role in a small business?
About two weeks for one role held by one person, if you keep the scope tight: a day to map the role, two days on decisions, five days of recorded sessions on the top processes, three days to build the documents and three to validate them with a backup. Trying to document everything at once is why most owners never finish.
What is a knowledge map, and how do I measure how much of my business is documented?
A knowledge map lists every process each role owns, who knows it, how often it runs, what it costs when it fails, and whether it is written down. Coverage is the share of those processes that are documented, and the processes that score high on risk with nothing written down are where you start.
What is the difference between a process, a decision point and tribal knowledge?
A process is a repeated piece of work with a start and a finish. A decision point is a place inside it where someone has to choose, and the rule they use is usually unwritten. Tribal knowledge is the judgment behind those choices: the always and never rules an expert learned from a mistake, which is why it never shows up in a step list.
Can I use ChatGPT to document my processes instead?
An AI tool can tidy up a transcript into a clean document, and that saves real time. It cannot ask the follow-up question that gets past the polite answer, or notice that two people do the same job differently. The interview is where the knowledge comes from. The kit gives you the questions; you can use any tool you like to write it up.
Get the kit
Three roles walking out this quarter, or the expert leaves in less than 14 days? Book a call and we run the interviews for you.