MYTH: "A good SOP covers every edge case."

MYTH: "A good SOP covers every edge case."
The correction: an SOP that lists 30 exceptions is unreadable in the moment you need it. Cover the 80% path; route edge cases to a named human.

SOP: Right-sizing an SOP
Run this whenever a procedure grows past one screen.

Stage 1 — Split
— ☐ Mark the steps that happen every single time (the spine). (Owner: doc author)
— ☐ Move conditional branches into a separate "if X, escalate to [name]" list. (Owner: doc author)

Stage 2 — Cap
— ☐ If the spine is over 12 steps, the task is two SOPs. Split it. (Owner: doc author)
— ☐ Every branch with under 5% frequency becomes "ask [owner]", not a written step. (Owner: doc author)

Stage 3 — Verify
— ☐ Can someone finish the common case in under 5 minutes of reading? (Owner: reviewer)

Owner: doc author. Trigger: an SOP scrolls past one screen. Done-when: the spine fits one screen, edges name an owner.

Save this. Run it every time.