Align roles and responsibilities in a process
We know that 66% of knowledge workers aren’t very happy with how their team works together. It’s time to change that. A swimlane diagram (also called a swimlane flowchart) uses the visual metaphor of a pool to provide clarifying structure to complex processes and responsibilities. It can help team members or different teams work together more efficiently by visualizing everyone’s “swimlane.”
If you’re onboarding a new team member or experiencing confusion on project responsibilities, using our swimlane diagram template is a great solution. Use vertical “lanes”' to divide focus areas and shapes and connectors to show how tasks or projects move ahead in the workflow.
A swimlane diagram, also known as a cross-functional flowchart or a process map, is a type of flowchart that visualizes a process flow across different departments and people. Swimlane diagrams are named after the horizontal or vertical lanes that divide and display the tasks or activities performed by each team or person involved in a process.
Each lane represents something or someone specific and the diagram shows how tasks flow between these lanes. Going back to the pool metaphor, a swimlane diagram shows an intricate relay race that your team will crush as long as you follow it.
Build understanding for process workflows, bottlenecks, and efficiency
Improve collaboration between different teams and departments
Identify handoff and communication gaps in business processes
Guide better decision-making and project management
Get started on your own swimlane diagram template here.
Identify the process you want to map out and identify key steps, decision points, and the roles or actors involved.
Identify the different stakeholders or departments involved in the process and create a lane for each one.
Label a lane sticky note for each key stakeholder or team in the process. Be sure to create more lanes if necessary.
Place each process action in the appropriate lane. Use the oval sticky note to indicate the starting point and process end. Add steps for each key point in the process. Connect the steps with arrows to indicate the flow of the process.
Be sure to document steps that happen at the same time but in different lanes. This will help identify any inefficiencies or understand how dependencies may be slowing the process down.
Identify any decision points in the process and add them to the swimlane diagram. Use the diamond shape to represent decision points and connect them to the appropriate process steps.
Add timeframes for the process. If there are any delays or wait times in the process, add them to the swimlane diagram using the delay shape in the template. Label them accordingly.
Add document tiles to represent where data or information exists that can be read.
Also be sure to include notes and comments on the diagram to clarify any ambiguities in the process or to provide additional context for stakeholders.
Review the swimlane diagram with stakeholders and refine it as necessary to ensure accuracy and clarity.
Get your working team involved: Involve all relevant stakeholders in the swimlane diagram creation process so everyone has a clear understanding of the process and can contribute to its improvement.
Clarity, clarity, clarity: Make sure to clearly define the inputs and outputs of the process to ensure that everyone understands what goes into the process and what comes out of it.
Don’t be afraid to use color: Use different colors on the flowchart symbols to highlight key information, such as decision points, delays, and other critical aspects of the process flow. This can help draw attention to important information and make the swimlane diagram more visually appealing.
Swimlane diagrams offer clear advantages in visualizing complex processes, making it easy to see who is responsible for each task.
Clear visualization: Makes it easy to see responsibilities and roles at a glance.
Organized structure: Divides tasks into lanes, helping to clarify who handles what.
Identifies bottlenecks: Highlights inefficiencies in the workflow for improvement.
Improves collaboration: Encourages smoother teamwork by showing cross-department interactions.
Tracks accountability: Ensures each stakeholder knows their role and responsibilities.
But, with every disadvantage, there are some drawbacks to consider.
Complexity: Can become cluttered and hard to follow in complex workflows with many steps.
Time-consuming: Requires significant effort to create and maintain, especially for large projects.
Limited for dynamic processes: Needs frequent updates to stay accurate as workflows change.
The primary purpose of a swimlane diagram is to help teams identify the key steps, roles, and responsibilities involved in a process. It provides a clear and visual representation of how tasks and activities are carried out, who is responsible for them, and how they relate to other parts of the process.
Swimlane diagrams help to identify process redundancies and duplication or highlight where processes start to break down. Create a diagram with your workgroup to level-up your process improvement.
While swimlane diagrams can be used to visualize workflows, they are not the same. A workflow diagram shows the sequential flow of activities in a process, while a swimlane diagram displays the process flow across different departments or individuals.
Here are some key characteristics of swimlane diagrams:
Lanes: Divided into horizontal or vertical sections (lanes) representing different actors, teams, or departments.
Task flow: Arrows or lines show the sequence of steps or tasks in a process.
Role clarity: Each lane assigns responsibilities to a specific role or department.
Process visualization: Provides a clear visual representation of complex workflows.
Cross-department interaction: Illustrates how tasks move between different stakeholders or groups.
Accountability: Helps track who is responsible for each action in the process.
Scalability: Can be applied to simple or complex workflows but may get cluttered with too many tasks.
Mural is the only platform that offers both a shared workspace and training on the LUMA System™, a practical way to collaborate that anyone can learn and apply.