Customer Reviews

Establishing a System of Policies and Procedures

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a quality professional for 26 years, this was a great book and I was happy to see that the American Society of Quality gave it a great review on the author's web site. It has wonderful content such as research, writing format, communications, and information you don't find anywhere else.

I like the book because it is short and not full of fluff like a lot of authors write. You don't get bored and you stay focused. Thanks Steve.

I have read some of the other reviews, they are all positive except for one or two and it sure seems like they are bashing for no reason other than something to gain (like being an author of another book of similar content that isn't doing as well). I can't believe someone would do this.

Read the book and you will see why it is so good.

By the way, I believe he is writing a fourth book about how to ensure policies and procedures are effective and are cost effective. Sounds interesting to me.

Hal

This is my third book by Mr. Page and it does not disappoint. I started with his Achieving 100% Compliance of Policies and Procedures, which is best suited for advanced policy and procedures developers in quality environments, and followed with his 7 Steps to Better Written Policies and Procedures. The latter book is better suited as a training manual or quick reference guide.

This book, however, is a straightforward "how to" book, and it gives procedures for writing policies and procedures that are effective and clear. What I like about this book is Mr. Page stays focused on the basics, and sorts out the key issues. If you've never written policies and/or procedures this book will step you through the process with no fluff. That doesn't mean the book is terse. On the contrary, the book explains in necessary detail how to develop policies and procedures that reflect best practices. Having read all of Mr. Page's books, and also having an extensive background in policy and procedure development, I can attest that the approach is mature and will assure success if followed.

As with other reviewers I've noticed a few typos and convoluted sentences. However, these did not detract from the book's value because they did not change the context of the book's content or make it difficult to follow. If you need to write policies and/or procedures and have never done it before get this book and follow it. You'll be impressed with the results using the approach, and you'll also benefit from Mr. Page's extensive knowledge of the subject by avoiding false starts, as well as producing documents that are solid and clearly written.

Thank you Mr. Page! About two years ago, it was determined that to survive in the aerospace business my company would have to get ISO 9000 qualification. Each department head was informed that he/she would be responsible for DOP's And SOP's within their group. Not being a writer, panic set in - how do you write an effective non-ambiguous procedure? Then I came across Mr. Page's book. It walked me through step by step on how to write procedures correctly. My co-workers followed his guidelines as well. I think in some respects his book helped get us through our ISO audit. By the way, the section on intranet helped us with our sales force in the field. We now send via intranet DOP's related to the sales force for review and signiture. Mr. Page's book is clear and concise. It is just what a busy person with limited time like myself was looking for in a "how to " book.

This logically-sequenced book is a great starting point for anyone who is faced with the task of writing policies and procedures. By following the book's clearly described steps you will be led through the development of policies and procedures that will be unambiguous and clearly stated.

More importantly, the policies and procedures will incorporate document and revision control elements that are essential to ensuring that the right version is used. This is especially important for companies that employ quality programs, such as ISO 9000.

While some of the writing is stilted, and there are some typos, this book is the best introductory text I've come across (and I have a shelf full of similar books), and one that I recommend without reservation to anyone who is faced with the task of writing policies and procedures. If you're an experienced policies and procedures writer I recommend that you forego this book and get, instead, the author's "Achieving 100% Compliance of Policies and Procedures".

What a wonderful book? I can't imagine anyone writing anything bad about this book unless they are vindicative or something. This book is packed full of good information and writing a book is not easy, I should know, I have tried. Writing procedures is very easy especially with this book but trying to write paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter is very difficult. I commend this author for such a concisely written, no fluff, book on a boring subject. He has made it interesting and useful. Thanks Mr. Page.

I have been involved with Total Quality Management for 25 years and this is best book and perhaps the easiest to read and understand that I have been privileged to read. This is so simple and yet so concise. Any novice can learn quickly. Any seasoned professional can pick up a few pointers. This is a wonderful book and should be bought by anyone interested in learning the basics, the fundamentals about writing high quality policies and procedures.

And I am with those anti-bashers. Everyone makes mistakes. I have written articles myself and it is so hard to be perfect even with editors and word processor grammar checkers and the like.

The series of books he writes are wonderful and well thought out. Let those bashers write anything as good as this author writes. And I challenge you to find something as good.

When I first started writing procedures for my company, I had such difficulty in figuring out how to present the information. I tried the outline and then narrative and neither were well received by my readers. Then I bought this book and I was amazed at how simple the author's writing format really was. Once I understood how to use each section heading, I simply filled in the blanks, more or less as the author states, it's not not easy, but close enough. What I liked even more was that the author kept to the format even if all categories were not used. He simply wrote "NA" in the section, but KEPT the 7 sections regardless of content. My readers love this format and thank me for releasing such professional looking procedures. Thanks Steve Page.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE ELECTRONIC EDITIONS OF "ESTABLISHING A SYSTEM OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES" ... AND ... "7 STEPS TO BETTER WRITTEN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES".

As a technical writer, I had mixed feelings about these books.

On the one hand, I thought they did an excellent job of presenting a simple, structured approach for developing and maintaining policies and their associated procedures in a systematic and consistent way. I think people who are new or relatively new to the work of developing such documentation should find these books to be valuable aids.

On the other hand, as someone who has been developing administrative and technical documentation for a number of years, I didn't find much here that was new to me. In many ways, I felt these books were an excellent presentation of "what I already know".

I felt the strongest points of the books were:

1) "The Writing Format" - The author makes it clear that the structure he uses for developing documents (which he calls "The Writing Format") is the core of his entire approach to developing policies and procedures. This simple, effective structure will be VERY helpful to those who've never had to develop standardized documentation before or for those who have yet to find a systematic approach for developing consistent documents.

2) Policies and Procedures in Support of Business Goals - All too often, policies and procedures are developed without the required connection to the ideas and realities that define the businesses for which they are being developed. Mr. Page does an excellent job of making it clear what a big mistake this is and suggests some ways to avoid this pit fall.

3) The Development Process - Many managers I've worked with over the years seem to think that good policies and procedures are something anyone can sit down and write in a few minutes. NOT true. Mr. Page does an excellent job of outlining the overall TEAM process by which good policies and procedures must be conceived, researched, drafted, reviewed, approved, published and continually revised and updated.

All in all, I think Mr. Page's books make excellent documentation development reference guides. But, as someone who has been developing administrative and technical documentation for several years, there were a few things I found disappointing:

1) Formatting - The visual formatting of Mr. Page's documents is VERY simple and, in my opinion, does not take very full advantage of the enhanced visual tools available in today's word processing programs. Designing documents that are visually simple to follow and help the user immediately recognize the logic of the document they are using is much easier with some of today's enhanced word processing capabilities. I would have enjoyed seeing examples of more sophisticated yet still straight foreward approaches to presenting information.

2) Editing - Especially in "Establishing A System of Policies and Procedures", I was surprised by the number of editing errors I found. They were not the sort of errors that make the book ineffective, but they detracted from the professionalism of the presentation.



I think for MOST people tasked with developing policies and procedures for a corporate or professional environment, these two books will be very good reference guides. But, if you've been developing successful documentation for a number of years and doing so with considerable skill and creativity, there may not be much new for you here.

When I read this book, I was so impressed with its simplicity. The author is so practical and clear. I was thrilled to have found something so concise and clear and so reasonably priced compared to other books out there. I also look at the sales rank.

I was so impressed with this book that I bought another 20 for my process improvement Team. We read the book together and applied its principles. I like it when an author takes a stand on issues instead of giving me many chances.

Thanks

Dr. Henry Tobin Director of Process Improvement

I am a novice procedures writer and this book is just I have been looking for. Very simple and to the point. I read for content not for errors, all books have errors. Anyway, each chapter is written in such a way that it is easy to understand and apply. I have read his 7 steps books, it is looks an extension of Chapter 4 on Writing Format. I haven't read his Achieving book but I hear it's great for making sure that your policies and procedures read and used. I can't wait to read that one.

Steve is a good author, he is practical. He writes as if he is talking. I like that style. I can see that it can lead to mistakes in grammar but Steve is doing something very important for us novice writers,and even seasoned writers, he is giving us information that we can use now. He doesn't write from a theoretical standpoint. He writes as he sees it and uses it. I can see that in his writing.

Keep up the good work Steve.

Ellen Sullivan