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Imagine you’re at a pool, swimming with your friends. You take a deep breath and dive in, but before you can reach a lap, a pro swimmer enters your lane and competes against you.
It’s the same with work.
When people don’t know who is doing what or when they should be working, it slows down their progress — and yours.
A swimlane diagram can help you tide over this sticky situation.
Swim lanes are a visual way to divide work into individual tasks, making the process clearer and easier for all the parties. These diagrams can be used in a variety of scenarios including business processes, education, and project management.
In this article, we’ll explore the basics of swimlane diagrams and what you need to know to create your own.
The Basics of Swimlane Diagrams
Swimlane diagrams provide a clear overview of the process. A key element of swimlanes is the labels at either end, which divide the diagram into segments or "lanes." These labels may include titles for each lane or descriptions of the lanes' contents.
Swimlane diagrams are designed by first drawing boxes on a page, then dividing those boxes into lanes according to the different tasks involved in completing your process or project. For example, if you want to create a swimlane diagram for a premiere, you can divide your picture into three lanes: one for the content producer, one for the editor/proofreader, and one for the artist.
Within each lane, you would draw arrows pointing to other lanes that the person must work on before finishing their designated lane. This leads us to our next tip:
How to Create a Swimlane Diagram in PowerPoint
In a single swimlane diagram, you can communicate how an individual task or job is divided and allocated to different departments or employees. This process creates better communication between clients, managers, and employees because the tasks are laid out in front of everyone involved.
You can use swimlane diagrams for any process with multiple stages — from HR paperwork to marketing campaigns. The basic structure for this type of diagram is one lane for each stage of the process.
The next step is to fill in the lanes with all the tasks that need to be completed at each stage of the process. You can assign one task per lane, starting with the top lane on the left side of your diagram and proceeding down, right across your diagram file.
Let us now study the steps for creating this diagram in PowerPoint:
1. Open PowerPoint. Click on Insert > Shapes > Rectangle > Basic Shapes > Lines. Repeat these steps multiple times to add different shapes and lines as shown in the screenshot below.
2. Format the sizes and colors of the shapes and lines as per your requirements. This will help create a flowchart that you can edit as per your needs. Here is a representation of the same:
3. Label the swimlanes as per your needs and preferences as we have done with the example of the product order processing flowchart showcased below.
Swim lanes can be used to simplify complex processes into easy steps. In principle, this concept helps you make the process clearer by dividing work into subtasks. Listed below are 10 swimlane templates that you can download, explore, and include in your projects for citing important facts and figures.
Template 1: Swimlane Flowchart For Sales Process
Depict the various facets of a sales process and the relationship between them using this swimlane diagram template. It provides a clearer picture of how sales are converted and products are delivered to the end-user.
Template 2: Swimlane Flowchart For Order Processing
Create a visual representation of the order process with this swimlane flowchart design. Deploy it for mapping and presenting various attributes of the order process including stocks, process cards, delivery, and many more — all fully editable and downloadable for your convenience.
Template 3: Swimlane Flowchart With Credit Facility
Bring an extra layer to protect and project with the customer purchase process with this design. With this swimlane chart, you can showcase various synchronized phases such as customers buying the product, credit form, sales call, and more. These phases can be exchanged with your own information and stats depending upon your needs and requirements.
Template 4: Swimlane Flowchart For B2B Product Sale
Clarify, communicate, and document the accountability of tasks while making B2B sales with this handy flowchart. Presented in a swimlane diagram format, it helps simplify the visualization process of the various steps involved in making sales. These include receiving, purchasing, quality assurance, and more.
Template 5: Value And Cost Added Swimlane Flowchart
Analyzing the steps that groups and departments take can help identify inefficiencies and problems. This is one design that can help you administer this process in the most efficient manner. Use it to clarify and simplify your visualization process of value and cost. Also, list various dependencies and bottlenecks if any with this handy swimlane design.
Template 6: Digital Marketing Six Months Transformation Swimlane Roadmap
Use this editable PowerPoint template to provide for all your audience needs. It has the full structure of the project, including what it entails and how long each step should take so that there are no surprises or questions left unanswered at the presentation time! Entrepreneurs can also deploy it for workforce allocation and stating critical deliverables like deadlines for the marketing campaign plan in order to keep things running smoothly throughout the complete date range.
Template 7: New Start Up Six Months Swimlane Roadmap
Create a prioritized work plan and discuss problem areas with your colleagues with this swimlane diagram. The roadmap presented here is especially useful for startups to display their important deliverables and empower their team to tread ahead on the right path.
Template 8: Program Swimlane Diagram
This is a program swimlane diagram with information related to the project and timeframe. This PPT design covers different steps involved during the execution phase and workforce allocation. These include current state, end state, initiatives, and more, all creating a synchronized workflow.
Template 9: Scrum Roadmap Swimlane
Organize your scrum project and stay on track with this handy swimlane design. State all the critical deliverables for each month, year, or quarter with this predesigned template. Not only are all the inputs such as product, QA development, etc, synchronized, but also easily editable as per your needs. So download right away!
Template 10: Six Months Software Development Swimlane Roadmap
State the critical deliverable, steps involved with clear timeframes, and resources to get it done with this design. You can also use this software development swimlane roadmap template to prioritize your tasks or discuss monthly problem areas with ease and precision. As it comes with editable features, it is easy to deploy for any business case. So download it now!
Swimlane diagrams are a simple yet effective way to break down complex processes and communicate with clients or managers. These crisp visual templates will help you take on the most difficult project management assignments, simplify your business process, and more!
We can even craft a customized layout for you. Just contact us today to get started!
P.S: If you are looking for an animated flowchart to showcase information, we have just the right tutorial for you. Click and explore!
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