In
my article titled Quickly Create a Process Map in a Team Meeting, I provided steps for teams to quickly and easily create
process maps using index cards or post-it-notes. Process maps are useful for problem solving
teams to find bottlenecks they would like to eliminate or reduce as well as
other areas for improvement. Below are some
additional tips for anyone who may be helping the teams with process mapping by
facilitating the development meetings so all members can participate more freely. Read the article above and then consider some
of the ideas below to facilitate the process.
For
step 1, “Start by writing down every step team members can think of in the
process on an index card …”
Consider, if
this is being done in a team setting, then you may want to have each member
shout out a step as they write it down.
The shout-out helps to eliminate people writing down duplicate steps and
may cause them to think of other steps that go before or after what they hear.
For
step 4, “Determine if there are any decisions to be made during the process.”
Consider, if the question has multiple
answers other than Yes/No. Rewrite the
question to where it can be written as a series of questions. For Example instead of asking “Should the
product be painted red, yellow, or blue?” reword the question to something like
“Paint the product red?” If the answer
is Yes, proceed to the RED path. If the
answer is No, then the next step is another decision point of “Paint the
product yellow?” If the answer is Yes,
proceed to the YELLOW path. If the
answer is No, then proceed to the BLUE path.
If
you want to formalize the process map after it is finished, you can convert it
to an electronic format using flow charting software for long complicated
processes. If the process is simple, it
can be created in presentation software like PowerPoint. To get started on the process, check out the
article Flowchart
Symbols and Their Meanings to make sure you build the map correctly.
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1 comment:
good read
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