Idea Lab: Workflow Documentation

Every newsroom has workflows. Most of them live in someone's head, a half-updated wiki page, or a Google Doc nobody can find. This tipsheet pulls together ideas from PMJA's Idea Lab conversation on workflow documentation, so you can build a system your team will open, trust, and keep current.

Start here One link to rule them all Access + organization = adoption

The top reason cited during this Idea Lab for under-used documentation was the lack of a single source of truth — one place that houses all your newsroom's workflow resources. There are several ways to accomplish this, but they all boil down to having one key link, posted in an obvious place, that hosts or links out to all other documentation.

If your documentation is…	Try…
Scattered across a shared drive, like Google Drive or OneDrive	Move them all into one shared folder at the top level of your drive. Bookmark that folder in a place your whole staff can access.
A mix of Google Docs, PDFs, videos, slides, and more	Create one spreadsheet that lists every link to those files, with a title and a description of each. (KUNM has one called the "Doc Barn.")
Text-based and many docs/pages long	Use Notion, OneNote, or the new tabs feature of Google Docs to create a single digital notebook where all your instructions are stored. Use sections and subsections to make it easy to navigate.

The fundamentals The pillars of useful documentation Solid workflow documentation should…

Be easy to locate, time and time again. Make sure everyone knows where the primary document, folder, or repository lives. Bookmark it in a visible place, like pinned to a Slack channel or linked on the intranet homepage.

Be searchable. Use a tool with a built-in search function so users can type a few words and find what they need, without scouring layers of folders.

Have a real update rhythm… A living document that's never revised becomes a dusty historical artifact. Every document should have an owner — an individual, not "the team" in general — who is responsible for keeping it current.

…and consequences. A tracker or editorial calendar that's more optional than mandatory won't help anyone stay in the loop. When introducing a new workflow tool, make it clear that participation is a key job responsibility that lets the whole team function. If it's not in the tracker, it doesn't exist.

Live in the most popular software you use. Think low barrier to entry. Try to create documentation within the programs your team has already mastered before introducing a new one.

Be written for the first-timer. Imagine the audience is you, but in a serious Freaky Friday situation: the relative who has taken over your body has no idea how to do your job, and all they have to go on is this documentation. Skip the jargon and acronyms — but don't skip any steps.

The playbook

Creating new documentation, step by step

1 Choose a format

Workflow documentation can serve a few different purposes — sharing knowledge, setting standards, live communication, and creating transparency. You might need one type of document, and you might need them all.

How-Tos, SOPs & Training Manuals. The stalwarts of documentation. They record how tasks must be completed step by step, capturing idiosyncrasies you wouldn't find in a general tutorial — daily-activity checklists for a role, onboarding manuals for new hires.

Style Guides & Brand Guidelines. Another idiosyncratic document — the standards that keep copy, audio, and visuals consistent, from capitalization and grammar to font choices and sound design.

Story Trackers, Content Calendars & Editorial Budgets. Keeping editors, reporters, and producers in the loop takes more than a Slack channel. Usually spreadsheets or tables that, used consistently, help a newsroom maximize resources by organizing who's doing what and when. Task-management tools work here too.

Wikis & Intranets. Sometimes these microsites are the home base for everything above. Other times they hold their own repository of institutional knowledge.

Workflow Diagrams & Decision Trees. Visuals that illustrate the stages of a workflow, project timelines, or the ways information and decisions flow.

2 Choose the right tool for the job

No single tool does everything, and that's fine. The Idea Lab surfaced a handful of favorites, each suited to a different piece of the puzzle. But remember: the best tool isn't the fanciest one — it's the one your team will actually open. Match the tool to how your newsroom already works, not the other way around.

Use case	Microsoft	Google	More tools
Wikis A searchable central hub of links and pages.	OneNote or Loop	Docs or Sites	Notion, Superhuman Docs
Trackers & Editorial Calendars Stories, reporters, air & publishing dates, sources, etc.	Excel	Sheets	Airtable, Notion
Task Managers Tasks, task owners, and completion status.	Planner	Tasks	Trello, Asana, Airtable, Jira, Todoist
Illustration & Design Visualizing a workflow as a diagram or map.	Designer	Slides (workflow clip-art diagrams)	Figma, Canva, Scribe (auto workflow annotation), Venngage, Adobe Express
Chat Platforms Live group conversations and shared bookmarks.	Teams Chat	Google Chat	Slack

3 Gather your people & work together

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." That goes for documentation, too.

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Involve your team in making anything new. You'll capture what you all really need — and you'll earn their buy-in.

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Share it with someone unfamiliar with the process. They can tell you how easy it really is to understand.

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Get back together for the "launch." Once a resource is ready, remind everyone where it lives and when it's scheduled to be updated.

4 Keep documentation alive

The hardest part of any documentation system isn't building it — it's remembering it exists. A few ways to build that habit in:

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Assign an owner for each document, not just for the system as a whole.

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Set a recurring reminder or calendar hold to review and update, rather than relying on someone noticing it's stale.

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Fold a quick documentation check into an existing recurring meeting, so it's not one more thing to remember separately.

Near + Now: Indianapolis

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 · The Athenaeum, Indianapolis, IN

Questions? conference@pmja.org

Resources from a peer to peer conversation July 20, 2026

Creating new documentation, step by step

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