Andrew Schrage is the co-owner and CEO of Money Crashers, a financial education website that has been featured on Forbes and CNN. Schrage was educated at Brown University and currently resides in Denver, CO.

In this interview, we talked with Andrew about how he designs and documents processes in his organization.

1. What company do you work for? What do they do?

Money Crashers. It’s a personal finance website.

2. What team do you work in?

As the co-owner and CEO, I’m involved with many different teams.

3. What is your role?

Most roles are of a supervisory nature.

4. What are your 5 most common processes?

Some of the more common business processes include contract management, talent acquisition, delivery of product or service, staff development, and financial reporting.

5. What is your involvement in the design and documentation of these processes?

My senior team does most of the initial design and documentation of our processes and I advise and adjust as necessary.

6. What software do you use to create this documentation?

Two software titles to consider for process documentation include ProcessMaker and PerceptiveSoftware.

7. What are some important best practices for writing effective process documentation?

Think logically and objectively when creating the steps for your process. Identify all needed resources for effective process completion. Test your process before it’s officially implemented.

8. What are the most common mistakes you find in process documentation?

One mistake in process documentation is not having a goal in mind for the process before you start documenting. Not mapping out the event sequence beforehand is another one. Another mistake is not having a contingency plan in place if a particular aspect of the process breaks down. This should also be thought out beforehand.

9. What are some innovations you would like to see in the process documentation space?

Process documentation in and of itself needs to be more interactive to keep costs down. Process documentation should be written in clearer language that can be easily understood by both experts and those with little experience with the process. Companies should pay more attention to the documentation of their processes as time goes on – often the documentation will need to change in order to remain relevant.

How do you design your processes? Let me know in the comments.