Swimlane diagramTool 6 · Measure
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Oval: start and end. Rectangle: a step. Diamond: a decision with yes and no. A red dashed line goes back to an earlier step. Hand-offs between lanes: 3.
Steps, in order
1
2
3
4
5
6
Lanes
One lane per department, team or role, in order from top to bottom.
Take another look at this
- 3 hand-offs in 6 steps. Every hand-off is a wait and a chance of "I thought you were doing that". Can steps stay with one department?
What a swimlane shows
A swimlane diagram is a flowchart with lanes: every horizontal lane is a department, team, job or person, and every step sits in the lane of whoever does it. At a glance you see who is responsible for what, and above all: how often the work moves from one lane to another. Every hand-off is a wait, a chance of misunderstanding and a place where files fall between the cracks.
How to make one
- Draft it first, with brown paper and sticky notes, and with representatives of all the departments in the chain. Only then put it in the tool.
- One lane per department or role. Not per person, unless the process really revolves around people.
- Steps as a verb plus a thing: "review request", "record leave". A decision is a question with yes or no.
- Draw how it really goes, not how the work instruction says it goes. The exceptions are often the most interesting part.
- Have it validated by those who were not in the room.
What to look for
- Hand-offs. Can steps stay with one department? In the case study from our e-book, a government body only discovered through the swimlane that tasks were being done twice and falling between the cracks.
- Loops back. A decision that sends the work back is rework. How often does that happen?
- Checks. Ask for each check why it is there and what it delivers.
No lanes needed? Use the flowchart tool.