Also called swim lane, swimlane map, cross-functional flowchart, Rummler-Brache diagram
What is a swimlane diagram?
A process drawn as a set of horizontal lanes, one per person or department, so that every point where work changes hands is a line being crossed.
What else it is called
- Other names
- swim lane, swimlane map, cross-functional flowchart, Rummler-Brache diagram
- In French
- diagramme en couloirs
Related entries
Understanding swimlane diagram
The same ordered steps as any process map, laid out in lanes so that the vertical position of a step says who is holding the work. The drawing then makes one thing impossible to miss: the number of times a single piece of work passes between people before it is finished.
That is what it is for. Delay in an office process is rarely inside a step and almost always between them, sitting in somebody’s queue while they do something else. A sequence of steps hides that. A sequence of steps with lanes puts a line through it every time it happens, and counting those lines is usually the fastest route to the real problem.
Lanes are drawn per role rather than per named person. Anne doing three of the steps is a fact about this month; the quality lead doing three of the steps is a fact about the process.
In practice
A quote that takes nine days turns out to involve four crossings: sales to engineering for the drawing, engineering to purchasing for the material price, purchasing back to sales, sales to the owner for the margin. Four crossings, four queues, and eight of the nine days are in them.
Frequently asked
When should I use lanes rather than a plain flowchart?
Whenever more than one person or department touches the work. If it all happens at one desk there are no handovers to show and a numbered list is clearer.