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Is the business process not capturing what users do? Create a UX flowchart
The surprising influence flowcharts have in changing business processes
More than any other chart in my work life, Flowcharts have probably had a greater impact on changing my projects' direction, focus, and design.
But I never gave them a second thought until I had to generate two flowcharts at the same time: it was only then that I saw the impact they had on both the user and business process.
The process to create one is often quite tricky. But it’s not because flowchart design is overtly hard: it’s the opposite.
Because you’re often developing flowcharts with other team members, there may be multiple overlapping flowcharts that you could generate.
So first, you have to figure out what flowchart you’re creating.
The two dimensions of flowchart types
I recently found myself creating not only the UX flowchart but also assisting in generating a business flowchart as well.
And learning how to make these resulted in me confusing the steps and language several times. The steps, scope, and objective of each chart are different.
To explain, let’s take a look at the difference between the two flowcharts.
Business flowcharts can be part of a larger process called business process mapping, which coordinates and maps different activities, data, systems, and people involved.
UX flowcharts focus on the user and their goals, mapping certain interactions, variations, and processes that users follow to complete tasks or journeys through a website.
However, this is not the only dimension of flowcharts you’re likely to encounter. There’s also another dimension that can emerge depending on the stage of your project: time.
Current (or as-is) flowcharts capture how the process is currently performed, based on user research, observation, interviews, and input from the team. This is an important step in making sure everyone knows how the process currently works.
