Process Flow Mistakes: Part II

Structural issues

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In this article, I continue to tackle process flow issues, focusing on suboptimal diagram structure. Refer to Part I for the first five process flow mistakes and how to address them:

1. Missing process name
2. Missing start/end point
3. Sloppy notation
4. Straying too far from the standards
5. Notation inconsistency from diagram to diagram

Now, let’s talk about the diagram structure issues (I will continue the numbering).

The main goal of the process flow diagram is to depict the sequence of activities to achieve the process goal. A diagram is missing the point if the sequence is unclear.

6. Compactness at the expense of clarity

When a diagram has a lot of steps and does not fit on a page or slide horizontally, analysts try to employ tricks to “make it fit”. Unfortunately, many of these tricks end up muddling the diagram.

Multiple changes of direction (aka a spaghetti diagram) will make your flow unreadable and unusable. It’s better to make the process flow longer, with a clearer flow, then cram it onto one page where your audience will lose all sense of direction and flow.