After an hour, the installer has found the fault in the system. He now knows exactly which valve, which move, which order. He plans to write it down in the evening in the office. In the evening an emergency gets in the way, the next day the next job. Three weeks later he remembers "something with the valve".
Knowledge is not only lost when someone resigns. It gets lost between the moment someone figures something out and the moment they write it down. This guide shows how to capture procedures on site with your phone, so that a usable guide can be made from them in the office.
Why on site and not later
- The details are only there now. Which switch, which order, which sound: an hour later that is still precise, a week later it is not.
- The photos can only be taken now. The open housing, the position of the lever, the type plate: back in the office there is no photo of them.
- The phone is there anyway. Whoever first has to fetch a laptop does not write.
The goal on site is not the finished guide but the raw material: steps, photos, one sentence per step. It gets polished in the office.
Good photos in 30 seconds
- Overview and detail. First a photo where the device is recognisable, then the detail that matters. A detail alone leaves the reader guessing where it is.
- One photo per step. Not ten photos at the end, but one at each move. That way the order is clear.
- Light. Torch or phone light on the detail; do not shoot against the light. A blurred photo in the basement is worse than none.
- Photograph the type plate. Model and serial number help later to find the right manual and spare parts.
- Hold still. Brace yourself briefly or take the shot twice.
Dictate instead of typing
Nobody likes typing with gloves or dirty hands. The dictation function of the phone keyboard (the microphone icon) turns speech straight into text.
- One sentence per step, starting with a verb: "Close the shut-off valve at the bottom left."
- Say punctuation out loud if the phone does not add it itself: "full stop", "comma".
- Numbers and units clearly: "Pressure at one point five bar."
- Read it back briefly. Dictation errors are quickly fixed on site; in the office they are often impossible to decipher.
Important for data protection: depending on the phone, speech is sent to the phone manufacturer's service for this. So do not dictate passwords or confidential customer data.
When there is no signal
Basement, underground car park, plant room: exactly where the systems are, reception is often missing. Make sure your solution stores the capture on the phone and only sends it when there is a connection again. Nothing is more frustrating than ten steps lost when you hit send.
Data protection on site
- No people in the photos unless it is necessary and they agree.
- Avoid customer data: screens with names, addresses on parcels, vehicle registration numbers.
- No passwords, neither in the text nor on photographed notes stuck to the device.
- Whatever still ends up in a photo gets redacted in the office before the guide is approved.
In the office: from raw material to guide
- Sort. Is the order right? Is a step missing between two photos?
- Annotate. An arrow or frame on each photo shows exactly where to reach.
- Tidy up the text. Shorten dictated sentences, standardise technical terms, put safety notes before the steps.
- Have it checked. A second person reads it — ideally someone who does not know the procedure.
- Approve it. With name and date. From then on the guide applies, also for the next person at the same system.
How a finished guide is structured is explained in How to write work instructions.
Checklist for capturing on site
- ☐ Title as an action: "Fix fault F12 on the heat pump"
- ☐ Overview photo of the device and photo of the type plate
- ☐ One photo and one sentence per move
- ☐ Anything safety-relevant explicitly recorded
- ☐ No people, customer data or passwords in photos or text
- ☐ Dictated text briefly read back
- ☐ Result recorded: how do you know it worked?
Summary
Procedures get lost between figuring them out and writing them down. So capture them right on site: one photo and one dictated sentence per step, stored on the phone when there is no signal. In the office, annotations, a review and approval turn this into a guide the next person will understand too.