SMB Process Audit Checklist

About this template

Find your biggest operational bottleneck in under an hour — the same first-week audit Gideon runs inside every client engagement. You score what actually happens this month, not what should happen, and finish with the one fix to make first.

What’s inside

• The six-area audit — Intake, Delivery, Handovers, Communication, Data and Decisions, five statements each, scored 0, 1 or 2
• Scoring sheet — area totals out of 10, with any area at 7 or more flagged red
• Bottleneck prioritisation — an impact × ease matrix for the first fix in each of your three worst areas
• Red-flag glossary — 21 symptoms common in growing businesses and what each one usually points to
• One-page summary sheet — the page to share with your team
• Put this to work — what to do next, depending on what the audit found

Who it’s for

The owner, CEO or operations lead who wants an honest read on where work gets stuck. It is designed to be completed by one person in a single 60-minute sitting.

The problem it solves

Friction is hard to see from inside the business, so the bottleneck that costs the most often goes unnamed. The audit only works at face value: a flattering score hides exactly the bottleneck you are looking for.

How to use it

1. Block 60 minutes — roughly 8 minutes per area, then 12 minutes to total your scores and plot the matrix.
2. Walk each of the six areas and score every statement against what actually happens this month.
3. Score honestly. “I don’t know” scores 2.
4. Plot your three worst areas on the prioritisation matrix.
5. Fix the top-right quadrant first: high impact, low effort.

What you’ll have at the end

• Your three highest-friction areas, each with a first fix rated for impact and ease
• A one-page summary to share with your team
• A date to re-audit — the template suggests 90 days out

The scoring thresholds are working rules of thumb, not an industry benchmark. The template is an editable Word document.