# 30-day one-workflow SOP

**Related lesson:** A 30-Day SMB AI Rollout That Stays on One Workflow  
**Pair with:** `/docs/readiness-trap-worksheet.md`

Until day 31: one job, one primary tool, one owner, one backup, one Friday review. No second chatbot. No “while we’re at it.”

---

## Header (day 0)

- Workflow (one sentence): ________________________________
- Owner: ________________  Backup: ________________
- Customer-facing or office: ________________
- Primary tool: FAQ builder / prompt pack / one-page policy / other: ________
- Done looks like (observable): ________________________________
- Out of scope until day 31: ________________________________
- Off switch (how we turn it off): ________________________________
- Start date: ________  Day 31: ________

As of August 2026 do not write GPT-4o, Claude 3 Opus, or Midjourney V6 as the current model. Name the **job**, or write ChatGPT (GPT-5.6 Terra) / Claude Sonnet 5 if you must name a model.

---

## Week 1 — Source text (days 1–7)

Folder name: `workflow-source`

- [ ] Tickets / emails / hours / price list in the folder
- [ ] Voice card written (if public text) — `/docs/smb-prompt-sheet.md`
- [ ] Traffic lights written (if more than one paster) — `/docs/employee-ai-policy.md`
- [ ] Draft seed / prompts / SOP from the folder only
- [ ] NEED FACT list:

Friday (20 min): facts still missing? Backup can find the folder? Second workflow killed?

Notes: ________________________________

---

## Week 2 — Draft in the tool (days 8–14)

- [ ] Built in the chosen tool (not public, or staff-only)
- [ ] FAQ: refusal row in; nasty-five asked
- [ ] Captions/email: QA checklist on every piece — `/docs/content-qa-checklist.md`
- [ ] Policy: cut to one printed page; 20-minute standup held
- [ ] Backup person ran the draft path for 10 minutes with the owner silent
- [ ] Inventions found and the *source* (row/prompt) deleted

Friday notes: ________________________________

---

## Week 3 — Shadow (days 15–21)

Human still sends or publishes. Tool does not speak unsupervised.

| Date | Incoming item | Tool used? | Invention caught? | Human still required? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |

If invention appears **more than twice**, do not go live in week 4.

Friday: backup can explain every tally row? yes / no

---

## Week 4 — Limited live (days 22–30)

One channel. One audience. Off switch written above.

- [ ] Live where we said, only
- [ ] Escape hatch tested once
- [ ] Keep / fix-in-place / kill: ________
- [ ] Harm this week (wrong hours, wrong price, invented number sent): ________

**Do not start workflow two in the keep/kill meeting.** Date it day 31 or later.

---

## Ongoing Friday cadence (after day 30)

Fifteen minutes. Same agenda.

```
Date: ________  Owner: ________  Backup: ________
1. What ran this week (count): ______
2. Inventions or wrong facts caught: ______
   rows/prompts changed:
3. NEED FACT still open:
4. Backup ran it without the owner?  yes / no
5. Kill / keep / fix:
6. Out-of-scope items that tried to sneak in (park them):
```

If three Fridays are skipped, the workflow is unowned. Unowned tools drift into invention.

---

## Week 1 inventory prompt

```
We are staying on ONE workflow for 30 days.
Workflow: [one sentence]
What we have:
[file names or pasted text]

1. Which facts are present enough to write an approved answer or prompt?
2. Which facts are missing (NEED FACT)?
3. What should we refuse to automate because it needs a human?
Do not suggest other workflows. Do not suggest software we did not name.
```