Tired of seeing projects grind to a halt due to inefficiency, confusion, or demotivation? Creating a clear process flow diagram can be a relatively simple solution.
While there are undoubtedly other areas to consider too (such as project management), creating an easy-to-understand process flowchart can help you and your team quickly understand how to move from start to finish. You’ll uncover unnecessary tasks and bottlenecks, ensuring the projects flow like a smooth conveyor belt.
In this guide, we’ll explain how to create a process flow diagram and when to use it. Let’s get into it:
What is a Process Flow Diagram (PFD)?
A process flow diagram (also referred to as just a ‘process flow’, ‘PFD’ or ‘process flow chart’) is a visual representation of the steps required in a process from start to finish. Using simple symbols and arrows it allows the reader to quickly understand how tasks, actions, and decisions are performed and in which order.
Given their widespread use in workplaces, they are universally easy to understand and can dramatically improve the understanding within a team.
The History of Process Flows
Process flow charts aren’t modern trends. They’ve been proven and trusted for over 100 years, having been introduced back in 1921 by industrial engineer and efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth, Sr. His creation of the chart to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) led to it spreading throughout associated industries, later moving into regular businesses.
When to Use a Process Flow Diagram?
When Implementing a New Workflow
When you create a new project, team, or branch of your business, the system must be slick. The best way to do this is by ensuring everyone has the best understanding possible of how things work. Mapping it out visually can help clarify the plan and prevent confusion. Think of it like a blueprint that everyone can refer to.
When Clarifying Existing Practices
Process flow diagrams should also be used when you want to standardize or clarify existing workflows. If you find your team gets confused, gets stressed, takes risks, or misses tasks too often, then now might be the time to visually clear things up.
Optimizing Existing Workflows
Efficiency is always a good thing. Creating a workflow chart can help you identify existing redundancies or tasks that are no longer necessary. As a result, you may simply speed up the workflow. For example, after creating a new workflow chart, a team manager may notice that a step isn’t necessary, allowing you to speed up the route to the end goal.
Training New Team Members
So, you’re hiring several new employees; the first headache is always onboarding them in the order of how things are done. Visual workflow diagrams speed this up. Within minutes, they can see an overview of how the team operates. And they can refer back to it at any point.
Improving Accountability
Imagine a workflow diagram is like a translucent pipe, and the work you complete is the water flowing through it - if a block appears, you can identify clearly where it is.
It’s perfect for troubleshooting. It can allow you to identify who (or what) is responsible at every step, so if things get messy or slow around due to a lack of project assets (for example), you can then take action.
Communicating with Stakeholders
Finally, if you need to explain how your complex process works to non-operational stakeholders, then handing them the process flow diagram makes their lives a lot easier. There’s no need to understand technical jargon or ask dozens of questions.
How to Make a Process Flow Diagram in 5 Steps
1. Identify the Process and Objective
First, you need to identify the process that’s taking place. You can start by determining the objective of the process flow diagram. Is it to document an existing workflow, improve a current one, or refine an existing process?
Then, you’ll need to state the endpoint. For example, if you are a film studio, it could be, ‘Sending finished video edits to the client’. You should also determine where you start, such as ‘gather key information from clients’. There is likely to be more than one outcome, so you may need to ask various stakeholders who may be involved.
2. Identify The Steps
Listing every task, action, decision, and handoff can be a complicated task if you’re currently working with a hodgepodge system. But it’ll dramatically help you improve the workflow. Be as detailed as necessary, but try to avoid minor sub-tasks unless they’re critical to the actual flow.
You may need to speak to your team to gather information. Each of these steps will eventually become a simple-to-understand symbol in the chart, so you need to identify steps that are sequential and specific.
3. Assign Responsibilities
You’ll also need to assign responsibilities where necessary. Keep it clear which individual or department is responsible for an area of the flow, everyone will know what is expected of them and who to turn to in a problem.
You can also consider adding ‘control points’ where your team should stop the flow and only proceed once approval has been met. This can be very important in delicate processes, where risks or even danger can arise.
4. Choose Your Symbols and Create Your Flowchart
It’s time to turn that probably quite chaotic list into something anyone in your team can understand in seconds. To do this, you should use standard process flowchart symbols.
Now, it’s time to get creative. You can create a draft on pen and paper, or jump straight into our template.
We recommend using a layout that flows logically, so go from top to bottom or left to right. Text should be brief and to the point, with spacing and font type consistent. The simpler the better.
5. Review and Improve
Once complete, review your process flow chart with key stakeholders and team members. Ask them:
- Does it reflect reality?
- Can any steps be added or removed?
- Are all the responsibilities assigned correctly?
- Is it easy to understand?
Once you’ve got green lights, you can attach it to training materials, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), or integrate it into your project management system. Remember to return to it every 6 to 12 months to ensure it’s up to date.
Commonly Used Process Flow Diagram Symbols
When creating your process flow diagram, you should use standardized symbols that people may have seen elsewhere. While it can be tempting to opt for a prettier, branded design, your objective here is simplicity, which can be achieved with the following:
- Rectangle: Next steps (used to define a step or responsibility).
- Ovals: First and end steps.
- Diamonds: Decision points (Used to define a step that requires a decision. Use arrows to indicate the multiple potential routes).
- D-Shape: Flow stop (can be used to stop the flow until approval).
- Arrows: Connectors and indicators of flow between steps.
Problems You May Face Creating a Process Flow Chart:
A Lack of Clarity
To put it bluntly, if your existing workflow isn’t refined or clear, you're going to face extra work trying to put it all together in a diagram. This can often be caused by one or two members not fully understanding the process of their department. The good news is that your efforts here will make life a lot easier in the future.
- Solution: If things aren’t clear, you’ll need to speak one-on-one to get to grips with it. Open-ended, action-focused questions work best here, such as “When a project comes to you, what triggers the first task, and who do you hand things off to next?”
Adding Too Much Detail
It’s tempting to add every micro-action. But if you do that, you’ll quickly see the chart become cluttered and unreadable.
- Solution: Ask yourself if the step impacts the flow or the outcome. If not, you can usually leave it out. For example, “Get approval from marketing” would impact the flow, but “Test A/B graphics” might not.
Using Incorrect Symbols
As we mentioned above with our symbols guide, you should only stick to standard flowchart shapes. However, even then, you may find some staff getting confused.
- Solution: Use a symbol legend to prevent confusion.
Failure to Implement the Diagram
All this is a waste of time if your team fails to use it. The best way to get around this is by asking for feedback early and stressing the importance of it moving forward. You can print it off in the office, favorite it in shared clouds, and ensure everyone is familiar with it during onboarding.
Process Flow Chart Example
Here’s an example of a process flow diagram, based on a Design Team’s flow of ‘Creative Brief’ to ‘Final Asset Delivery’.
Process flow diagrams are just one crucial step in streamlining any team. We welcome you to request a free personal demo with Workamajig to learn how a powerful agency management system can transform your projects into profits.
Originally published August 1, 2025.