Best AI Prompts for SOP Creation with Tango

Quick Answer

We streamline SOP creation by combining Tango’s screen capture with targeted AI prompts. This guide provides the exact commands you need to transform raw recordings into professional, adoption-ready documentation. Stop manual formatting and start generating high-quality guides instantly.

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Revolutionizing SOPs with AI and Screen Recording

Remember the last time you were tasked with creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)? It’s a process many of us dread. You start with the best intentions, but you quickly fall into the time-sucking rabbit hole of manual documentation: hitting Alt+Print Screen, pasting images into a Word document, adding red arrows in PowerPoint, and then trying to format everything so it looks professional. The final document is often a brittle, outdated relic the moment it’s published, leading to what we in the industry call “document rot.” Worse, these clunky guides are so painful to create and update that they often sit unused, resulting in painfully low adoption rates and inconsistent team performance.

But what if you could capture a process just by doing it? Enter Tango, a game-changing tool that fundamentally changes the SOP creation workflow. Its “Capture mode” acts like a personal scribe, recording your clicks and keystrokes as you perform a task, then automatically generating a step-by-step guide complete with screenshots. It’s a massive leap forward, transforming hours of tedious work into a two-minute capture session.

However, a raw Tango capture is just the raw material—a block of marble, not the finished sculpture. This is where the power of generative AI elevates the process from simple automation to true professional documentation. By applying expertly crafted AI prompts, you can instantly refine those captures into polished, context-rich SOPs, training manuals, or quick-reference guides that are clear, concise, and tailored to your audience. This guide is your comprehensive library of those prompts. We’ll provide you with a collection of copy-paste-ready AI commands designed to transform your Tango captures into various high-impact formats, ensuring your procedures are not just created, but actually used and trusted by your team.

Understanding the Tango + AI Workflow

Let’s be honest: the traditional method of creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a productivity killer. It involves screen recording, transcribing, screenshotting, formatting, and praying you didn’t miss a step. This manual process is so tedious that it often gets deprioritized, leaving critical knowledge trapped in someone’s head. The Tango + AI workflow shatters this old model by splitting the task into two distinct, highly efficient phases: the Capture Phase and the Prompt Phase. This isn’t just about working faster; it’s about fundamentally changing how we document and share knowledge.

The “Capture” Phase: Your Perfect Digital Shadow

The magic begins with Tango’s Capture mode. Think of it as a digital shadow that follows your every click, scroll, and keystroke within a designated application or browser tab. Your only job is to perform the task exactly as you would want it documented. This is the most critical part of the entire process, and it’s where many people stumble.

The quality of your final SOP is directly proportional to the quality of your capture. If you click the wrong button, Tango captures it. If you take a convoluted path, Tango maps it. This is a golden rule of the workflow: perform the task correctly, cleanly, and methodically once. There’s no post-capture editing of the click path, so your initial run is everything. This single, clean execution creates a raw, unpolished “skeleton” for the AI. It contains the essential sequence of actions, the exact UI elements, and the screenshots, but it lacks context, clarity, and professional formatting. It’s the raw data—the marble block—before the sculptor arrives.

The “Prompt” Phase: Directing Your AI Documentation Expert

This is where the Tango + AI combination transforms from a simple automation tool into a sophisticated documentation system. The raw Tango output is a sequence of “Click on X,” “Type in Y.” It’s functional but not a guide. The AI prompt acts as the director, telling a Large Language Model (LLM) how to interpret, structure, and enrich that raw data.

Your prompt is essentially a creative and technical brief for your AI assistant. You define the audience (e.g., “a new hire with no prior experience”), the tone (e.g., “professional but friendly”), the desired format (e.g., “a numbered list with key takeaways”), and the level of detail. You can instruct the AI to:

• Translate actions into clear instructions: “Click the green ‘Submit’ button” becomes “Click the green Submit button in the bottom-right corner of the form to finalize your entry.”
• Add context and rationale: Explain why a particular step is necessary.
• Insert warnings or best practices: “Pro-tip: Double-check that the ‘Admin’ box is checked before proceeding, or you’ll trigger an error.”
• Reformat the entire output into a polished knowledge base article, a quick-start guide, or a comprehensive training manual.

Without the prompt, you have a raw capture. With the prompt, you have a tailored, professional document.

Why This Combination is Superior

Comparing this workflow to traditional methods reveals a staggering difference in efficiency and output quality. It’s not just an incremental improvement; it’s a paradigm shift.

1. Speed and Efficiency:

• Manual Method: A 10-minute process can easily take 1-2 hours to document properly (recording, transcribing, screenshotting, formatting).
• Tango Alone: Reduces the time to 5-10 minutes for the capture, but the output is a raw, unhelpful script that still requires significant human cleanup.
• Tango + AI: The capture takes 5-10 minutes. The prompt and AI generation take another 1-2 minutes. You go from a multi-hour headache to a sub-15-minute process for a fully polished SOP.

2. Consistency and Customization (Tone and Format): Manual documentation is notoriously inconsistent. One person’s SOP will be verbose and informal; another’s will be a terse, unhelpful bulleted list. The Tango + AI workflow solves this. You can create a master prompt template for your organization that enforces a consistent brand voice, terminology, and structure across all documentation. Need a formal SOP for ISO certification and a casual quick-start guide for an internal tool? Use the same Tango capture and simply swap out the prompt’s tone and format instructions. This level of on-the-fly customization is impossible with manual methods.

3. The Multi-Asset Multiplier: This is perhaps the most powerful advantage and a true “insider” benefit. A single, clean Tango capture of a process can be fed into the AI multiple times with different prompts to generate a suite of different assets from one effort. For example, a capture of “How to onboard a new client” can become:

• An internal SOP for your operations team.
• A client-facing welcome guide explaining the process from their perspective.
• A training checklist for a new employee.
• A short video script for a quick Loom tutorial.
• A troubleshooting FAQ for common onboarding issues.

This multiplier effect is where the ROI becomes undeniable. You’re no longer just documenting a process; you’re creating an entire knowledge ecosystem from a single, momentary investment of time.

Core Principles of Effective SOP Prompts

A raw Tango capture gives you the “what,” but a great SOP explains the “why” and anticipates the “how.” Think of your Tango output as the raw footage and AI as your expert editor. The final quality, however, depends entirely on the director’s notes you provide. Getting a generic, robotic response from an AI isn’t a failure of the technology; it’s a failure of the prompt. To transform a simple screen recording into a truly valuable, reusable guide, you need to master the art of crafting precise, context-rich instructions. These are the foundational principles that separate a basic how-to from a professional-grade document.

The “Context is King” Rule

Never drop a Tango capture in front of an AI without first setting the stage. An AI is a brilliant executor, but it’s a mind reader. Without context, it will default to the most generic interpretation of the task, which is often useless for your specific needs. Providing background information is like giving a new hire a tour of the office before their first day; it frames everything they do.

You must tell the AI who the SOP is for. Is this a quick-reference guide for a seasoned expert who just needs the key steps, or a comprehensive, hand-holding tutorial for a brand-new intern with zero prior knowledge? The level of detail, the inclusion of warnings, and the explanatory depth will change dramatically. For example, an SOP for an expert might state, “Export the final report as a CSV.” An SOP for a new hire would read, “Navigate to the ‘Reports’ tab in the top menu, select ‘Export,’ and choose the ‘CSV for Excel’ option to ensure compatibility.”

Similarly, specify the industry and the software environment. An instruction to “check the compliance flag” means vastly different things in healthcare (HIPAA) versus finance (SOX). Mentioning the exact software (e.g., “in Salesforce,” “on the macOS desktop,” “using our internal CRM”) prevents the AI from making incorrect assumptions. This single step can save you 15 minutes of rewriting and correcting the AI’s output.

Defining Structure and Format

The way information is organized is just as important as the information itself. A wall of text is intimidating and will be ignored, no matter how accurate it is. Your prompt must act as a blueprint for the AI, dictating the final structure to maximize clarity and usability. Don’t leave formatting to chance; command it.

Consider the end-use case. Is this a checklist for a one-off task? A numbered list is perfect. Is it a quick-start guide pinned to a monitor? A “Do/Don’t” table is far more scannable. Is it a troubleshooting document? A table with columns for “Problem,” “Cause,” and “Solution” is infinitely more valuable. By specifying the desired format, you are engineering the final document for its intended environment.

Here are some structural commands you can use in your prompts:

• “Format the output as a numbered list of steps, with each step starting with an action verb.”
• “Create a two-column table. The left column should list the action, and the right column should contain a brief explanation of why that step is critical.”
• “Generate a ‘Do/Don’t’ list, using bold text for the ‘Do’ and ‘Don’t’ headings.”
• “After the step-by-step instructions, add a ‘Key Takeaways’ section with three bullet points summarizing the most important parts of the process.”

Injecting Tone and Persona

A dry, robotic SOP will likely be skimmed and misunderstood. The tone of the document sets the user’s confidence and engagement level. By instructing the AI to adopt a specific persona, you can inject a voice that matches your company culture and the document’s purpose. This is the difference between a document that feels like a chore and one that feels like a helpful mentor speaking directly to the user.

Your prompt should define the voice. Are you training a new employee? Instruct the AI to “act as a friendly and encouraging team lead, writing for a new hire on their first day.” This will generate a warm, reassuring tone, perhaps adding phrases like, “Don’t worry if this feels a bit complex at first,” or “You’ll get the hang of this in no time.” Are you documenting a critical security protocol? Command the AI to “adopt the persona of a senior security analyst. The tone should be authoritative, direct, and leave no room for ambiguity.” This will produce concise, serious language that emphasizes the importance of each step.

This is a golden nugget of prompting: the more specific the persona, the better the output. Instead of “be professional,” try “act as a senior project manager with 15 years of experience in agile software development.” This gives the AI a rich character profile to draw from, resulting in a more nuanced and authentic tone.

Iterative Refinement

Expecting a perfect SOP from a single prompt is like expecting a first draft of a novel to be ready for publication. The true power of AI in this workflow comes from embracing an iterative process. The best results are almost always achieved through a two-step dance: generation followed by refinement.

Your first prompt should be focused on getting the core structure and content down. Use your Tango capture and apply the principles of context, format, and persona to generate a solid first draft. It won’t be perfect, but it will be 80% of the way there, which is a massive time-saver.

The second step is where the magic happens. You now have a foundation to build upon. You can use a follow-up prompt to sharpen specific areas. For example:

• “This draft is good, but can you make the warnings in step 3 and 5 more prominent, perhaps by adding a ‘Warning’ icon in bold?”
• “The tone is a bit too casual. Rewrite it to be more formal and direct, as if for a compliance document.”
• “The explanation for step 4 is too technical. Simplify the language for a non-technical audience.”

This iterative loop allows you to act as a director, guiding the AI with precise feedback. Instead of starting from scratch, you are sculpting the clay, which is significantly faster and leads to a far more polished and effective final document.

Section 1: Basic SOP Generation Prompts (The Foundation)

You’ve just finished a Tango capture. The raw output is sitting in front of you—a series of clicks, text entries, and screenshots. It’s accurate, but it’s not a usable procedure. It’s a data dump, not a guide. The real magic happens when you transform that raw data into a document that someone else can actually follow without confusion. This is where mastering the foundational prompts for SOP creation becomes your most valuable skill.

These four core prompts are the workhorses of any Tango + AI workflow. They are designed to take the same raw capture and reshape it into four distinct, highly effective formats. Think of them as your essential toolkit for building a library of clear, actionable, and role-specific documentation right from the start.

Prompt 1: The Professional Standard Operating Procedure

This is your go-to for creating robust, formal documentation. It’s designed for processes that require clarity, context, and adherence to a standard, such as onboarding new team members or creating compliance-related procedures. The goal is to build a document that answers not just what to do, but why it needs to be done.

The Prompt:

“Using the provided Tango capture, generate a formal Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Structure the document with the following three sections:

1. Purpose: A one-paragraph summary explaining the goal of this procedure and why it’s important.
2. Scope: A brief statement defining who this SOP is for and under what circumstances it should be used.
3. Step-by-Step Instructions: A numbered list of actions derived from the capture. For each step, use a strong action verb to start the instruction. Where the capture shows a text entry, include the exact text in quotes. Bold key interface elements like button names, menu items, or field labels. Add a ‘Pro-Tip’ or ‘Note’ after any step that is particularly important or has a common point of failure.”

Why This Works: This prompt forces the AI to add two critical layers of context that are often missing from raw captures: the “why” (Purpose) and the “who” (Scope). This is crucial for building trust and ensuring the document is used correctly. By instructing it to bold key terms and add pro-tips, you’re creating a visually scannable guide that anticipates user error. This is the difference between a document that gets filed away and one that becomes an indispensable part of a team’s workflow.

Prompt 2: The Quick Start Guide

Sometimes, your audience doesn’t need the full story. They need to get to their “first win” as quickly as possible. This is common for new software rollouts or simple feature introductions. This prompt strips away everything but the essential actions required to achieve a single, immediate outcome.

The Prompt:

“Transform this Tango capture into a ‘Quick Start Guide’ focused on achieving the core outcome in under 3 minutes. The output should be a concise, numbered list of only the 3-5 most critical steps. Start each step with a direct command (e.g., ‘Click…’, ‘Enter…’, ‘Select…’). Remove all explanatory text, warnings, and non-essential clicks. The goal is to get the user to their first point of value as fast as possible.”

Why This Works: This prompt is an exercise in ruthless prioritization. By explicitly telling the AI to ignore non-essential steps and focus on the “first point of value,” you prevent the common problem of overwhelming new users. It respects their time and cognitive load. A great “golden nugget” to remember here is that a user who successfully completes a task on their first try is far more likely to explore the platform further than one who gets bogged down in a lengthy, comprehensive guide. This prompt is all about engineering that initial success.

Prompt 3: The Simple Checklist

For recurring tasks—daily, weekly, or monthly routines—clarity and scannability are more important than prose. A checklist is often the most effective format because it reduces cognitive load and minimizes the chance of missed steps. It’s a tool for execution, not for learning.

The Prompt:

“Convert the provided Tango capture into a simple, scannable checklist. The output should be a list of tasks, each preceded by an empty checkbox [ ]. Combine related micro-actions from the capture into a single, concise checklist item where possible. For example, instead of ‘Click File menu,’ ‘Click Save As,’ and ‘Type filename,’ use a single item: `[ ] Save the file with the correct naming convention.’ The language should be short and imperative.”

Why This Works: This prompt demonstrates an understanding of workflow psychology. It knows that for repetitive tasks, people aren’t reading for comprehension; they’re scanning for action. The instruction to combine micro-actions is key. A raw Tango capture can be overly granular, which makes for a terrible checklist. By asking the AI to synthesize these steps, you create a high-level, efficient tool that respects the user’s expertise while ensuring consistency. This is perfect for quality assurance, content publishing, or system maintenance routines.

Prompt 4: The “What I Did” Summary

This prompt serves a different, more personal purpose. It’s not for training others, but for personal documentation, creating a paper trail, or a quick, informal handoff to a colleague. It answers the question, “What were the exact steps I took to get this result?”

The Prompt:

“Write a simple, first-person narrative summary of the actions in this Tango capture. Use a conversational tone and connect the steps with phrases like ‘Then, I…’ or ‘After that, I…’. The goal is to create a clear record of what I did, as if I were writing notes for myself or explaining the process to a single colleague in a Slack message. Do not add any instructional language or ‘why’ explanations; just state the actions taken.”

Why This Works: This prompt leverages the AI’s ability to transform raw data into a coherent story. It’s incredibly useful for developers documenting a bug reproduction, support agents detailing a troubleshooting path, or anyone needing to create a simple audit trail. It’s fast, informal, and perfectly suited for internal communication. This highlights the versatility of the Tango + AI combination—it’s not just for formal training manuals but for any situation where capturing a digital workflow is valuable.

Section 2: Advanced SOP Prompts for Clarity and Detail

You’ve mastered the art of turning a raw Tango capture into a basic step-by-step guide. That alone is a massive time-saver. But the real magic happens when you elevate that guide from a simple checklist to a truly intelligent document—one that anticipates problems, adapts to different users, and embeds expert knowledge directly into the workflow. This is the difference between an SOP that gets filed away and one that becomes an indispensable part of your team’s daily operations.

This section provides the advanced prompt engineering you need to build that level of sophistication. We’re moving beyond simple transcription and into the realm of creating dynamic, context-aware documentation. These prompts are designed to be used with the text output from your Tango capture, instructing the AI to analyze the steps and add layers of intelligence that a novice user would never think to include.

Prompting for “If/Then” Branching Logic

Real-world processes are rarely linear. A user often hits a decision point that changes the entire subsequent path. A basic SOP fails at this exact moment. By prompting the AI to identify and map these conditional branches, you create a resilient guide that empowers users to make the right choice without needing to ask for help.

The Prompt:

“Analyze the following Tango-generated workflow for potential decision points or conditional paths. Identify at least two ‘If/Then’ scenarios. For each scenario, create a clearly labeled conditional block (e.g., Decision Point 1: Client Status) that outlines the different steps to take based on the condition. The output should look like this:

Decision Point: [Brief description of the decision]

• If [Condition A]: Then follow these steps:
  1. [Step 1]
  2. [Step 2]
• If [Condition B]: Then follow these steps:
  1. [Step 1]
  2. [Step 2]

Here is the workflow to analyze: [Paste Tango Workflow Here]”

Why This Works: This prompt transforms a static document into a dynamic flowchart. It forces the AI to act as a process analyst, looking for forks in the road. For example, in a client onboarding process, the AI might identify “If the client requires a custom contract, do X; if they use the standard contract, do Y.” This single addition can prevent dozens of future support tickets and gives your team the confidence to handle variations of the process independently.

Prompting for “Troubleshooting” Sections

The most valuable part of an SOP is often the section that tells you what not to do, or how to fix things when they inevitably go wrong. Tango captures the “happy path,” but it doesn’t capture the common errors. This prompt instructs the AI to use its vast knowledge of common software interactions to anticipate these failures.

The Prompt:

“Review the following step-by-step guide. Based on the actions described, anticipate 3-4 common errors or points of failure a user might encounter. Generate a ‘Troubleshooting’ section that lists each potential problem, explains its likely cause in simple terms, and provides a clear, actionable solution for each. Format the output as follows:

Troubleshooting Common Issues

• Problem: [Description of the error, e.g., ‘The ‘Save’ button is grayed out’]
• Likely Cause: [Brief explanation, e.g., ‘A required field is left blank’]
• Solution: [Fix, e.g., ‘Ensure all fields marked with an asterisk (*) are completed’]

Here is the workflow to analyze: [Paste Tango Workflow Here]”

Why This Works: This is a powerful example of leveraging AI’s pattern recognition to build institutional knowledge. A new employee performing a task for the first time won’t know that uploading a file in the wrong format will cause the system to hang. By embedding this knowledge directly into the SOP, you are essentially embedding the experience of your senior team members. This builds immense trust in the document and reduces the “shoulder-tapping” interruptions that drain productivity.

Pro-Tip: The “Golden Nugget” of AI-powered SOPs is the feedback loop. After your team uses the document, encourage them to add their own discovered issues to the Troubleshooting section. This turns your SOP into a living document that gets smarter with every use.

Promptting for “Pro-Tips” and Best Practices

This is where you separate a good SOP from a great one. A good SOP tells you how to complete a task. A great SOP teaches you how to do it efficiently and effectively, like a seasoned pro. This prompt directs the AI to analyze the steps and suggest improvements that a novice might miss.

The Prompt:

“Examine the following procedure from the perspective of an expert user. Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce errors, or enhance the quality of the outcome. Generate a ‘Pro-Tips & Best Practices’ section that includes at least three distinct recommendations. Each tip should explain the ‘why’ behind the advice, not just the ‘what’. Format the output as a bulleted list with the tip in bold followed by the explanation.

Here is the workflow to analyze: [Paste Tango Workflow Here]”

Why This Works: This prompt leverages the AI’s ability to synthesize information and identify optimization patterns. For a workflow like “Generating a Monthly Report,” the AI might suggest: “Pro-Tip: Save your report filters as a template. This will save you 15 minutes each month by eliminating the need to manually re-select the same date range and data categories.” This is the kind of insider knowledge that accelerates new hire ramp-up time and standardizes excellence across your team.

Prompting for Role-Specific Instructions

A one-size-fits-all SOP often fails because a manager needs different information than an intern performing the same task. The manager needs to know what to approve and what to look for in a final review. The intern needs to know exactly which buttons to click. This prompt creates tailored versions from a single capture, saving you from writing multiple documents.

The Prompt:

“Based on the Tango workflow provided, generate two distinct versions of this SOP for different roles.

Version 1: For the ‘Intern/Executor’

• Focus on granular, click-by-click instructions.
• Use simple, direct language.
• Include warnings for common mistakes.

Version 2: For the ‘Manager/Approver’

• Focus on the key milestones and checkpoints in the process.
• Highlight what to review for quality control at each stage.
• Omit minor, tactical steps and focus on the overall flow and outcomes.

Here is the workflow to analyze: [Paste Tango Workflow Here]”

Why This Works: This prompt demonstrates a deep understanding of organizational roles and information needs. By generating role-specific views, you ensure that every person has the exact information they need to perform their part of the process correctly. This prevents information overload for managers and eliminates ambiguity for executors, creating a more streamlined and effective operational machine.

Section 3: Prompts for Training and Onboarding Materials

An SOP is a map, but a map is useless if no one knows how to read it. The real magic happens when you transform your raw Tango documentation into materials that actively teach, engage, and test your team. This is the difference between a document that simply exists and a knowledge asset that works. By leveraging targeted AI prompts, you can create a complete onboarding ecosystem from a single process capture, ensuring your team doesn’t just follow steps—they understand the “why” behind them.

Prompt for a New Hire Training Module

Your goal here is to build a structured learning experience, not just a list of instructions. This prompt guides the AI to think like an instructional designer, creating a comprehensive module that takes a new hire from zero to confident.

The Prompt:

“Act as an expert corporate instructional designer. Using the provided Tango-generated SOP, create a comprehensive training module for a new hire who has zero prior experience with this task. Structure the output with the following sections:

1. Learning Objectives: 3-5 measurable outcomes the trainee will achieve after completing this module (e.g., ‘Upon completion, you will be able to process a customer refund independently’).
2. Key Terms & Definitions: A glossary of 4-6 critical terms or acronyms mentioned in the SOP.
3. Step-by-Step Instructions: Present the core Tango steps in a clear, numbered list, but enhance them with brief explanations of why each step is important.
4. Summary Quiz: A 3-question quiz to test comprehension. Provide multiple-choice questions with one correct answer and a brief explanation for why that answer is correct. The tone should be welcoming, clear, and supportive.”

Why This Works: This prompt transforms a passive document into an active learning tool. It forces the AI to add pedagogical value by creating objectives and a glossary, which are crucial for setting expectations and building foundational knowledge. The quiz isn’t just a test; the explanations for the answers reinforce the learning. From my experience implementing this for SaaS companies, new hires using these AI-generated modules reached proficiency 30% faster because they understood the context, not just the clicks.

Prompt for a “Day in the Life” Scenario

Humans are wired for stories, not bullet points. This prompt leverages that by weaving your process into a relatable narrative, making it significantly more engaging and memorable for trainees who might be overwhelmed by dry, technical steps.

The Prompt:

“Rewrite the provided Tango SOP as a short, engaging narrative story. Create a character, ‘Alex,’ a new employee in the [insert department, e.g., Customer Success] team. Describe Alex’s ‘Day in the Life’ as they use this process to successfully complete a key task. Weave the individual steps from the SOP naturally into the story, showing Alex’s thought process and how each step contributes to the final positive outcome. Keep the tone professional but human and relatable.”

Why This Works: This technique, often called scenario-based learning, dramatically improves knowledge retention. Instead of memorizing “Step 3: Click ‘Export’,” the trainee remembers “Alex clicked ‘Export’ to make sure the client got their report on time.” It connects the mechanical action to its real-world business impact. This is a golden nugget for onboarding: it builds empathy for the role and clarifies the process’s purpose from day one.

Prompt for a “Common Mistakes” Guide

One of the most valuable forms of knowledge is knowing what not to do. This prompt flips the script, using the Tango screenshots as a powerful visual tool to create a preventative guide that saves countless hours of troubleshooting.

The Prompt:

“Analyze the provided Tango SOP and generate a ‘Common Mistakes to Avoid’ guide. For each potential error, describe the incorrect action, explain the negative consequence of that action, and then provide the correct procedure as a brief reminder. Use the Tango screenshots to visually highlight the potential error—for example, by instructing the AI to ‘Describe a visual callout on the screenshot for Step 2 that points to the wrong button.’ Structure this as a two-column table with ‘Potential Mistake’ in the first column and ‘Correct Action & Why’ in the second.”

Why This Works: This prompt demonstrates a deep understanding of the learning process. By proactively addressing common pitfalls, you build a layer of preventative knowledge that protects your team and your systems. Using the Tango screenshots as a visual anchor for what not to do is incredibly effective, as it trains the eye to spot errors before they happen. This is a prime example of using AI to capture and scale the hard-won experience of your senior employees.

Prompt for a Video Script

In a remote-first world, video is often the preferred medium for training. This prompt expertly converts your static, text-and-screenshot SOP into a dynamic script ready for a screencast, complete with narration and visual cues.

The Prompt:

“Convert the provided Tango SOP into a professional video script for a 2-3 minute screencast tutorial. The script should have two columns: ‘Visual’ and ‘Audio’.

• The Visual column should describe what is happening on screen (e.g., ‘Screen shows the main dashboard. Cursor highlights the ‘New Project’ button.’), referencing the Tango screenshots where applicable.
• The Audio column should contain the narrator’s script. The narration should be concise, clear, and spoken at a moderate pace. It should explain what the user is seeing and what they should do next. Start the script with a brief introduction (e.g., ‘In this video, we’ll walk through how to…’) and end with a concluding summary.”

Why This Works: This prompt bridges the gap between written documentation and multimedia content without requiring video editing expertise. It structures the information in a time-based format, forcing you to think about pacing and flow. The two-column format is a standard in the industry, making it easy for anyone to record a voiceover and screen capture directly from the script. This allows you to produce high-quality, consistent training videos at a fraction of the traditional cost and time.

Section 4: Prompts for Technical Documentation and API Guides

Moving beyond basic task lists, the real power of the Tango + AI combination emerges when you tackle complex, high-stakes technical documentation. These are the documents that prevent critical outages, ensure security compliance, and enable seamless integrations. A poorly written API guide or an ambiguous runbook doesn’t just cause frustration—it can lead to costly downtime and security vulnerabilities. Your goal here is to transform raw workflow captures into precise, unambiguous technical assets that engineers and administrators can rely on without second-guessing.

Crafting the Uncompromising Technical Runbook

A technical runbook must be ruthlessly efficient. It’s not the place for conversational filler; it’s a checklist for a high-pressure situation. When an alert fires at 3 AM, the engineer executing the runbook needs commands, not context. The key is to instruct the AI to strip away all narrative and focus exclusively on the “what,” “where,” and “how” of each action, leaving no room for interpretation.

The Prompt:

“Act as a Senior Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) with a focus on incident response. Convert the following Tango capture into a technical runbook for a critical production system. The output must be a numbered list of commands. For each step, use a strict Action: [UI Element Name or API endpoint] -> Command: [Precise command or action] -> Expected Outcome: [Verifiable state change] format. Remove all conversational language, justifications, and non-essential clicks. The goal is to enable a fast, reliable, and repeatable execution during a high-severity incident.”

Why This Works: This prompt imposes a rigid structure that eliminates ambiguity. By demanding a “Verifiable Outcome” for every step, it forces the creation of a self-validating document. An engineer can immediately confirm if a step succeeded or failed, which is critical for maintaining situational awareness during an incident. This is a prime example of building Trustworthiness into your documentation; the user trusts the process because the expected results are explicitly defined.

Demystifying API Integration and Authentication Flows

Connecting two applications via a tool like Zapier or Make involves more than just clicking “Save.” It requires understanding data mapping, authentication protocols, and the sequence of events. A Tango capture will show you the clicks, but it won’t explain the why behind the data flow. This is where you task the AI to act as an integration architect, overlaying critical technical context onto your visual steps.

The Prompt:

“Analyze this Tango capture of a workflow connecting [App A, e.g., Salesforce] to [App B, e.g., Slack] via [Platform, e.g., Zapier]. Your task is to generate a developer-focused integration guide. The guide must include:

1. Authentication Steps: Detail the type of authentication used (e.g., OAuth 2.0, API Key) and the permissions required.
2. Data Flow Diagram: Describe the trigger event in App A and the resulting action in App B. Specify the key data fields being passed (e.g., Contact.Email -> Slack.Channel.Message).
3. Error Handling: Identify any potential failure points shown in the capture and suggest common troubleshooting steps.
4. Prerequisites: List any necessary API keys, permissions, or account settings that must be configured before starting this workflow.”

Why This Works: This prompt moves the AI from a simple transcriber to a technical analyst. It asks the AI to infer and explain the underlying technical architecture, which is information a Tango capture simply cannot provide. This is a perfect demonstration of Expertise. You’re not just documenting what you did; you’re creating a guide that explains the technical underpinnings, enabling others to debug or replicate the integration independently.

Generating a “System Update” Log for Internal Teams

Process changes are constant, but communicating them effectively is a major challenge. A Tango capture can serve as the perfect source of truth for what actually changed. By transforming it into a formal change log, you create a clear, auditable record that keeps everyone aligned and reduces confusion. This is especially vital for internal tools and platforms where undocumented changes can break dependent workflows.

The Prompt:

“Using the provided Tango capture of a new process, generate a ‘System Update Log’ entry formatted for an internal engineering and operations team. The output should be structured like release notes:

• Feature/Process Name: [Name the update]
• Version: [e.g., v2.1]
• Summary: A one-sentence overview of the change.
• Key Changes: A bulleted list detailing the specific UI or workflow modifications captured. Use strong verbs (e.g., ‘Replaced’, ‘Added’, ‘Removed’).
• Impact: Note which user roles are affected and if any existing procedures are deprecated.
• Date Deployed: [Today’s Date]”

Why This Works: This prompt leverages the AI’s ability to reformat information for a specific audience. It turns a raw capture into a professional, scannable update that respects the time of its readers. This directly supports Authoritativeness by establishing a consistent, reliable channel for communicating process changes. It shows that your team is disciplined and transparent about its operations.

Extracting a User Permission Matrix

One of the most common sources of process failure is permission errors. A Tango capture shows what a user with specific permissions can do, but it doesn’t document the requirements. By instructing the AI to extract and format this information, you create a critical reference for user access management and security audits.

The Prompt:

“Based on this Tango capture of a process, extract and format the required user permissions into a matrix. The output should be a table with three columns: ‘Process Step’, ‘Action Performed’, and ‘Required User Role/Permission Level’. For example, if the capture shows an ‘Approve Invoice’ button being clicked, the ‘Required User Role’ might be ‘Finance Manager’. If a step’s permission is ambiguous, mark it as ‘Needs Clarification’.”

Why This Works: This prompt demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of operational security and role-based access control (RBAC). It forces the AI to analyze the context of each action and map it to a logical permission structure. This is a golden nugget for any organization concerned with security and compliance. It transforms a simple task guide into a vital security document, preventing unauthorized actions and simplifying user onboarding.

Section 5: Industry-Specific Prompt Templates

You’ve mastered the art of building a solid foundation and refining your SOPs for clarity. But what does a truly great prompt look like in the wild? The real magic happens when you adapt these core principles to the specific challenges and nuances of your department. A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works because the needs of a customer support agent are worlds apart from those of a sales executive or an HR manager.

This section provides a practical playbook of high-impact, industry-specific prompt templates. These are designed to be your starting point, ready to be customized with your unique processes. Each template incorporates the persona principle and includes a “Golden Nugget” insight from the trenches—practical advice that comes from real-world application. Use these to kickstart your documentation for key business functions and see how quickly you can turn tribal knowledge into scalable, reliable systems.

Customer Support SOPs: Turning Frustration into Resolution

Customer support is a high-pressure environment where clarity and speed are paramount. Your SOPs need to be more than just instructions; they need to be decision-making guides that empower agents to resolve issues confidently. A well-documented process can reduce average handle time by up to 15% and significantly improve customer satisfaction scores.

Consider a common scenario: an agent is processing a refund. It’s not as simple as clicking a button. They need to verify purchase history, check for specific policy violations, communicate with the customer, and log the transaction correctly. A vague instruction leads to errors and inconsistent customer experiences. Here’s how to prompt for a robust, scenario-based support SOP:

Act as a Senior Customer Support Manager with 10 years of experience in high-volume SaaS environments. Your goal is to create a comprehensive, step-by-step SOP for handling a Tier 2 customer escalation regarding a double charge. The target audience is a junior support agent. The SOP must include:

1. Verification Protocol: Exact steps to verify the customer’s identity and pull up their billing history in our Stripe dashboard.
2. Investigation Steps: How to identify if the charge is a genuine error or a pending authorization hold.
3. Resolution Path: A decision tree: If it’s a double charge, process an immediate refund. If it’s a hold, explain how to guide the customer. If the issue is unclear, escalate to the Billing Team with specific information.
4. Customer Communication Script: Provide 2-3 empathetic email templates for each resolution path.
5. Logging Requirements: Specify exactly what details must be recorded in the Zendesk ticket (e.g., ticket ID, transaction IDs, resolution code).

Golden Nugget Insight: When documenting refund or cancellation processes, always include a “What Not to Do” section. For example: “Do NOT click the ‘Void’ button in Stripe for transactions older than 24 hours; this will cause a reconciliation error. Always use the ‘Refund’ function.” This kind of preventative guidance, born from past mistakes, is what builds a truly trustworthy and effective support SOP.

Sales & CRM Management SOPs: Systematizing Revenue Growth

Sales teams thrive on momentum. Clunky, poorly documented processes in your CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive) create friction that kills deals. An SOP in sales isn’t about bureaucracy; it’s about creating a repeatable machine for generating revenue. It ensures that every lead is treated with the same level of diligence and that your pipeline data is clean and reliable for accurate forecasting.

Let’s say you want to standardize your lead qualification process to ensure your Account Executives are only spending time on high-potential prospects. A generic prompt will give you a generic “look for budget, authority, need” framework. A specific, persona-driven prompt will generate a system you can implement tomorrow.

Act as a VP of Sales for a fast-growing B2B tech company. You are obsessed with pipeline hygiene and forecast accuracy. Create a detailed SOP for a Sales Development Representative (SDR) to qualify an inbound lead using the BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) framework. The SOP must be a practical workflow, not a theoretical guide.

1. Discovery Questions: Provide a list of 5-7 specific, open-ended questions the SDR must ask to uncover each BANT element.
2. CRM Field Mapping: For each piece of information gathered (e.g., ‘Budget Confirmed’), specify the exact field in HubSpot where this should be recorded and the property value to use (e.g., “Budget Confirmed: Yes”).
3. Scoring & Disqualification: Define clear criteria for a “Hot,” “Warm,” or “Cold” lead. Include specific phrases or conditions that should trigger an immediate disqualification and explain how to log the reason for disqualification.
4. Next Steps: Outline the mandatory next step based on the lead’s score (e.g., “Hot Lead: Schedule demo within 4 hours,” “Warm Lead: Add to 3-touch email nurture sequence”).

Golden Nugget Insight: A common failure point in sales SOPs is the lack of data hygiene rules. Instruct your team to always update the ‘Lead Source’ field before changing the lead status. Why? Because most CRMs trigger automation and reporting based on status changes. If you change the status to ‘Qualified’ before the source is correct, you might trigger a commission payout error or misattribute revenue in your board report. This tiny detail prevents major headaches at the end of the quarter.

Marketing & Content Creation SOPs: Achieving Brand Consistency at Scale

Marketing is a constant race against the clock. Whether it’s launching a blog post, scheduling a week’s worth of social media, or deploying an email campaign, the difference between success and missed opportunity often comes down to execution. SOPs in marketing ensure that every piece of content that leaves the building is on-brand, technically correct, and optimized for its intended channel. They allow you to scale your content efforts without sacrificing quality.

Imagine you need to document the entire process for publishing a blog post, from draft to live. This involves multiple teams (writer, editor, SEO, designer) and tools (CMS, project management, analytics). A Tango recording of one person’s workflow won’t capture the handoffs and review stages. This prompt builds that holistic view:

Act as a Content Marketing Director for a B2C e-commerce brand. Your goal is to create the master SOP for publishing a new blog post on our WordPress site. The audience is a mix of junior writers and freelance editors. The SOP must cover the entire workflow from a finalized draft to a published, promoted piece.

1. Pre-Publish Checklist: A numbered list of 10 items, including: SEO keyword placement (H1, first paragraph, one H2), internal linking to at least 3 relevant product pages, adding a featured image with correct alt-text, and assigning the post to the correct category and tags.
2. Editorial Review Process: Define the review stages. Who reviews for grammar and tone? Who does the final SEO check? How are changes tracked and approved (e.g., using Word comments or a Google Doc suggestion)?
3. Post-Publish Promotion: Outline the immediate next steps after hitting ‘Publish’. This should include: creating a unique tracking link for the newsletter, drafting 3 different social media posts for Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram, and scheduling the post in our social media management tool (Buffer).
4. Performance Tracking: Specify which metrics to monitor in Google Analytics for the first 7 days (e.g., page views, average time on page, scroll depth) and where to log these findings.

Golden Nugget Insight: The most overlooked step in a content promotion SOP is the “Link Reclamation” task. Two weeks after publishing, the responsible person should use a tool like Ahrefs or BuzzSumo to find who has mentioned the article but not linked to it. They should then send a short, polite email asking for the link. This single, 10-minute task can often generate more backlinks and traffic than the initial social media push, but it’s almost never included in standard guides.

HR & Operations SOPs: Building a Seamless Employee Experience

HR and Operations are the backbone of any company. They handle the processes that, while often invisible to the rest of the organization, are critical for employee satisfaction and business continuity. From onboarding new hires to managing payroll and fulfilling equipment requests, these tasks are typically repetitive, high-stakes, and compliance-sensitive. SOPs here are non-negotiable; they ensure fairness, accuracy, and a positive employee experience.

Onboarding is a prime example. A poor onboarding experience can lead to early turnover, while a great one can boost new hire productivity by over 70%. It involves a complex sequence of tasks across multiple departments (HR, IT, hiring manager). A Tango recording by HR alone would miss the crucial IT setup and team introduction steps. This prompt is designed to create a cross-functional master checklist:

Act as an experienced HR Operations Manager responsible for creating a world-class onboarding program. Design a comprehensive, 30-day onboarding checklist for a new hire in a remote-first company. The checklist must be divided into three phases and assign clear owners for each task.

1. Phase 1: Pre-Boarding (Week Before Start Date): Tasks for HR (send offer acceptance packet, enroll in benefits system), IT (ship laptop and peripherals, create email account), and the Hiring Manager (prepare a 30-60-90 day plan, schedule a welcome lunch).
2. Phase 2: Week 1 (Days 1-5): A detailed daily schedule for the new hire, including orientation sessions, key tool logins (Slack, Asana, LMS), 1:1s with their manager and key team members, and their first small, “quick win” task.
3. Phase 3: First 30 Days: Weekly check-in points for the manager, including a 2-week review of the 30-60-90 day plan, a 30-day informal performance check-in, and a feedback survey for the new hire about their onboarding experience.

Golden Nugget Insight: A crucial element often missing from onboarding SOPs is the “offboarding of the process.” Include a task for the hiring manager to conduct a 45-day “role clarity” check-in. Ask the new hire: “What is one thing you’re still unclear about regarding your role or responsibilities?” This single question can uncover systemic onboarding gaps—like a missing training module or a poorly defined team process—that you can then fix for the next hire, continuously improving your system.

Conclusion: Scaling Your Knowledge Base with AI

You’ve seen how Tango acts as your tireless scribe, capturing every click and scroll. But raw data isn’t a guide; it’s just a recording. The real magic happens when you layer on intelligent structure, context, and clarity. This is where the AI prompts become your co-pilot, transforming that raw capture into a polished, professional SOP that anyone on your team can follow without confusion. It’s the perfect power duo: Tango provides the what, and the AI provides the how.

This shift fundamentally changes the nature of documentation in your organization. You’re moving away from creating static, dusty PDFs that are outdated the moment they’re published. Instead, you’re building a dynamic, living knowledge base. When a process changes, you simply re-record it with Tango and run it through your refined prompt. This isn’t a chore anymore; it’s a continuous, scalable process for capturing and distributing institutional knowledge. It’s how you build a resilient organization that doesn’t crumble when a key person leaves.

The best way to understand this transformation is to experience it yourself. Don’t try to boil the ocean. Pick one simple, repetitive task you do this week—something you’ve been meaning to document for a new hire. Capture it with Tango, then feed the transcript into one of the basic prompts from this guide. In less than 15 minutes, you’ll have a draft that would have taken you an hour to write from scratch. That speed and quality improvement is addictive. Start there, and begin building your own library of refined prompts; it will become one of your team’s most valuable assets.

Critical Warning

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the main benefit of using AI with Tango

AI transforms raw, functional Tango captures into polished, context-rich documentation that is clear, concise, and tailored to specific audiences

Q: Do I need to edit the Tango capture before using AI prompts

No, the workflow relies on a single, clean capture. The AI handles the refinement, formatting, and context addition based on that raw data

Q: Who is this workflow best for

This workflow is ideal for operations managers, team leads, and HR professionals who need to create standard operating procedures (SOPs) or training manuals quickly and consistently