SOP: Wiki page vs runbook — where does this doc go?

SOP: Wiki page vs runbook — where does this doc go?

Run this every time you're about to write process documentation.

Stage 1 — Classify the content (owner: author)
☐ Is it executed under time pressure or during an incident?
☐ Does it have an ordered sequence with a clear done-state?
☐ Or is it background/reference someone reads to understand a system?

Stage 2 — Route
☐ Ordered, executed, time-sensitive → runbook. Numbered steps, copy-paste commands, rollback section, on-call owner.
☐ Reference, conceptual, browsed → wiki. Linked, searchable, no required order.

Stage 3 — Cross-link (owner: author)
☐ Runbook links to the wiki for the "why."
☐ Wiki links to the runbook for the "how, right now."
☐ Done-when: doc lives in exactly one home with a last-reviewed date.

Tradeoff: a wiki tolerates ambiguity; a runbook must not. Mixing them buries the one command you need at 3am under three paragraphs of context.

Trigger: new process doc. Done-when: classified and placed.

Save this. Run it every time.