View from the top

April 26th, 2009

Whenever you feel overwhelmed by a process or not sure who is doing what, map it.  I spent Friday afternoon with a client going over both their sales and delivery processes.  Before we documented them we took the key players involved and mapped each process on a whiteboard.  You do not have to be a professional flowcharter to do this!  All you have to do is start with the beginning of the process and visually walk through it until the end.  When you map it, you can usually see disconnects or areas for improvement more clearly than you can when you document using words.  It makes the process easy to view quickly at a high level.  If someone deeply involved in the process needs further detail, include the details in a written out process in your company operations manual.

For a quick overview on how to create a simple flow chart, refer to this link:  http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/toolkit/flowchar.htm.  If you need any help or have any questions, just send me an e-mail.  Good luck!