Demonstrates Websites & digital
Process mapper
Build a process the way a business analyst would: step by step, saying who does each one, whether it is manual, and whether the work waits before it. The map draws itself as you go and marks the handoffs, the waiting and the manual steps — which is where almost every real problem turns out to live.
The map
- 01Request submitted by emailCustomerManual
- Handoff → AdminWork waits here02Logged in the spreadsheetAdminManual
- 03Checked for completenessAdminManual
- 04Sent to the manager for approvalAdminManual
- Handoff → ManagerWork waits here05Approved or sent backManagerManual
- Handoff → AdminWork waits here06Customer told the outcomeAdminManual
What the map says
6 steps, 3 handoffs across 3 people or teams, 6 manual, and 3 points where work waits.
- Work changes hands 3 times. Each handoff is a place where something can wait, get lost, or be done twice — and the cost of a process is usually in the gaps rather than in the steps.
- Work sits still at 3 points. Waiting is almost always the largest part of how long something takes, and it rarely shows up in anyone’s estimate of the work.
- Steps 2 to 4 are consecutive manual steps owned by the same person. That is the cheapest thing on this map to change: one owner, no coordination to renegotiate.
- Every step is manual. That is common and it is not the problem in itself — the question is which of them need a person’s judgement and which are only manual out of habit.
A real current-state map goes further: how long each step takes, how often it is reworked, what happens to the exceptions, and which system holds the truth at each point. That is the work an assessment does, and it is where the surprises are.
The process mapping worksheet
The paper version of this tool, and the one an engagement actually uses: a block per step covering who, what system, how long it takes and how long it waits first, then the five things to count and the questions that usually find something.
The steps
Nothing here is stored or sent. The map lives in this page until you leave it.
What you are doing
Map something you actually do, or start from an example and change it. Watch what the map says about a process you thought you already understood.
Business & technology health check
Twelve questions across the five problem areas, and a plain summary
02Buy, build, integrate or automate
Answer a few questions and see which of the four routes actually fits
03Automation opportunity finder
Find which repetitive work is worth automating, and what to fix first
05Built responsibly, in practice
The layers of a properly built site, and what stops the spam