1. What systems or services need documentation?
Write down the servers, apps, websites, self-hosted tools, devices, or workflows that depend on notes people may need later. A short plain-English list is enough.
Documentation / Runbook Cleanup Checklist
Use this plain-English checklist to organize notes, runbooks, and recovery documentation before a manual KITPro conversation.
Use this before the first documentation cleanup review note.
The goal is to make the current notes easier to explain and easier to review. You do not need polished docs before a manual KITPro conversation starts.
Cleanup checklist
Short answers are enough. The point is to see what already exists, what is scattered, and what would help another person follow the setup later.
2. Where are notes stored now?
List where documentation currently lives: text files, wikis, cloud docs, notebooks, dashboards, chat threads, issue trackers, or personal scratch notes.
3. Are install or setup steps documented?
Note whether someone could rebuild or re-create the basics without guessing the order, missing packages, or relying on memory for key steps.
4. Are restore or recovery steps documented?
Write down whether recovery instructions exist, where they live, and whether they are specific enough to follow when time and attention are limited.
5. Are admin accounts and access paths documented safely?
Record whether the access path is explained clearly without putting raw access material into the notes. The goal is to know how access works, not to publish sensitive details.
6. Are recurring maintenance tasks documented?
List the updates, checks, renewals, restarts, cleanup steps, and review routines that happen repeatedly. If they are handled from memory, note that directly.
7. Are known issues or gotchas written down?
Capture the things people usually remember only after a problem starts: odd service behavior, ordering dependencies, fragile workarounds, or steps that fail if done too early.
8. Is the documentation easy for someone else to follow?
Look at the notes as if another operator had to use them. Are they clear, current, findable, and specific enough to help during handoff or recovery?
9. What is outdated or missing?
Mark the sections that no longer match reality, still say 'TODO', refer to tools that changed, or skip the parts that actually slow people down.
10. What should be cleaned up first?
Pick the highest-value cleanup targets first: the notes that block recovery, slow down handoff, confuse ownership, or make a small outage harder to reason about.
Do not send
Keep the first conversation safe and high level. A readiness review does not need raw access material in the opening note.
- Login details
- Integration access credentials
- SSH credential files
- Recovery codes
- Full config dumps that include access details
- Unneeded private client records
Signs this review may be useful
If several of these fit, the Documentation / Runbook Cleanup preview lane may be a reasonable next conversation.
- Useful notes exist, but nobody trusts them fully.
- The most important steps still live in one person's head.
- Recovery notes are thin or hard to find.
- Maintenance tasks happen regularly but are not written down clearly.
- The documentation grew over time and now needs a practical cleanup pass.
Want help reviewing your documentation? Start a KITPro conversation.
Keep the first note short, manual, and recommendation-focused. Explain what the notes belong to, what feels outdated, and what part of the cleanup seems most important.
Related resources
Keep the documentation cleanup path connected.
Use these nearby resources if the runbook cleanup work overlaps with backup notes, restore steps, or the first message you want to send through the manual start path.
Backup Review Prep
Organize a useful first email before contacting KITPro.
Open resourceRestore Test Notes
Document what worked, what failed, and what needs attention.
Open resourceBackup Terms
Use the glossary when a backup or recovery term is unclear.
Open resourceBackup Readiness Checklist
Start here to see what is clear and what is missing.
Open resource