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.
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.
The practice has become commonplace in high-functioning modern teams. In fact, 97% of companies prioritize process flow management, and around half of them use programs to visualize it.
In this guide, we’ll explain how to create a process flow diagram and when to use it. Let’s get into it:
Key Takeaways:
- Process flow diagrams visually clarify the steps, decisions, responsibilities, and handoffs in a workflow.
- They help reduce bottlenecks, improve accountability, and speed up starting each project.
- Project management software allows you to create dynamic, trackable, and automated workflows that adjust as your plans shift. They do the work for you!
- You can make them in 5 simple steps, using the relevant symbols, or with PM software.
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 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.
A century later, there is now the option for dynamic, automated, and optimized process mapping, which 79% of employees say has improved their employee experience.
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 down 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 business 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 1 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. (Take out text after this from the existing post)
Process Flows vs. Other Workflow Diagrams
Here is a quick comparison of the most common flowcharting tools businesses use, so you can help identify which is best for your project:
Process Flow Diagrams
- They provide a visual map of the steps and decisions of a process, from start to finish.
- They use symbols to allow quick identification of decisions, activities, and flow.
- They’re best for helping you understand and streamline workflows when you care more about the logic than specific dates.
Swimlane Diagrams
- Swimlanes type of process flowchart that shows who is responsible for each role.
- They use a ‘lane’ visualization (imagine a swimming pool with lanes).
- They’re ideal for clarifying responsibilities and hand-offs across teams.
- They reduce miscommunication.
Gantt Charts
- Gantt charts are time-based scheduling diagrams that show tasks as bars.
- They include dependencies, milestones, and start and end dates.
- They use a horizontal timeline, with bars stretching from the planned start to finish dates.
- They’re ideal for helping you plan and track schedules, progress, and dependencies.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)
- SOPs are written, step-by-step instructions to help with completing tasks in a consistent, compliant way.
- They use a text document with numbered steps, demands, and responsibilities.
- They’re best for laying out the rules of a process when work is repetitive and regulated.
Kanban Board
- Kanban boards use columns to show the workflow stages of a process. Cards with tasks move, indicating work-in-progress.
- They’re ideal for clarifying what work is in progress, to allow you to manage flow in real time.
- They’re best when work is continuous, with no fixed end date.
Using Software
- Alternatively, you can use project management software such as Workamajig.
- They will allow for dynamic, real-time changes based on schedules, step status, and resource budgets to streamline the process.
- Workamajig displays process flows in dashboards and visuals such as Gantt charts to allow quick identification of progress, dependencies, roles, steps, and status.
Should We Automate Our Process Flow Diagrams?
Digitizing your team’s process flows can revolutionize how easy it is to track and adjust your processes as a project progresses, in real time.
A report from Adobe asked employees how important and effective digitizing their workflows is. Here are the results:
- 87% said it directly impacted the client experience.
- 79% said it improved employee experience.
- 94% said it was very important to their organization.
How Workamajig Makes Process Flows Dynamic, in Real Time
As an agency management software, Workamajig does the work for you, dynamically updating schedules and assignments as timing and plans shift.
Here’s a closer look at how you can improve your process flow:
Templates to Map Out Your Workflows
Thanks to templates (either customized or from Workamajig’s presets), identifying your process flows becomes simple with each new project.
For example, if you’re creating a workflow process for a logo project, you can quickly select a predefined logo workflow process template.
Each template includes all the key steps and workflow dependencies mapped out, from concept development through reviews to the final client approval. All that is nicely displayed in visuals such as Gantt views.
Resource Assignment
Each step in any project needs people assigned to it. With Workamajig, it’s simple. Thanks to the templates, each step is pre-assigned to roles, such as creative directors and the project manager, so there’s no need to go in and individually name people (because Workamajig already knows who your current creative director is).
The duration of each task can be easily assigned and adjusted, so your team works within the allocated time.
You can also use the staff schedule feature to see how your teams are being utilized and if there are any issues with workloads.
Easy and Critical Monitoring
As your project progresses, your project’s board keeps you informed of how it’s going.
At a high level, each project has a progress bar that indicates how far you’ve made it through the process steps.
At a closer level, Workamajig’s color-coded traffic light system indicates when an assignment is on track, is starting to slip, or has already slipped and gone off schedule and/or budget.
Project managers can see all this via their dashboard. That allows rapid identification of which items need their attention (such as with assignments due but not done, or projects with schedule warnings). This can prevent your team from going too far off schedule.
On a staff level, team members have their own dashboard within Workamajig. There, they can very quickly see what tasks have been assigned to them, the due dates, and how many hours they have allocated to get them done.
With the click of a button, they can start timers or report what they have or haven’t completed, which automatically updates within the system. And should they have an issue, they can report it in the conversations tab.
Dynamic Changes for More Flexibility
Of course, in creative fields, plans need flexibility and rarely stick to the exact schedule.
Workamajig’s monitoring system dynamically updates by comparing actual progress to the original baseline plan. For example, if a designer starts later than planned or not at all, you’ll see it reflected with automation.
We’ve made all this very simple to view at a glance by showing actual progress vs baseline plans in the project’s Gantt chart. It all updates dynamically, based on actual progress and tracking. So, you don’t need to deep dive into dates, emails, and spreadsheets just to stay on track.
(Orange bars in the Gantt Chart view indicate baseline dates.)
Get a Free Workamajig Demo Today
When it comes to Process Flows, Workamajig does the tracking and scheduling work for you. There’s no need to force the system or update things manually.
And this is just scratching the surface of Workamajig’s agency potential. If you’d like to see a full demo and tutorial, feel free to contact us today.