Benefits of process flows
Process flows are almost indispensable in user-centred design, especially for dynamic websites where there is either a transactional element - where users need guiding down the "purchase funnel" - or a self-care element, or where there is extensive server communication and hence multiple decision trees that the user can potentially traverse.
- Communication - process flows are a succinct way of communicating the logic of a system
- Effective analysis - with a completed process flow diagram, problems with a process can be analysed more effectively
- Efficient coding - process flows act as a guide or blueprint during technical implementation
Look out for...
A process flow diagram can quickly become an extremely detailed document (or series of documents).
- Try to limit complexity - remember, someone else needs to be able to understand what you've produced
- Annotate where you can - so that the process flow explains itself as it unfolds
- Physical size - process flows can quickly become so complicated that you can't show them on one piece of paper. This is where you can use "connectors" (shown as numbered circles) where the flow moves off one page, and where it moves onto another. By using the same number for the off-page connector and the on-page connector, you show that the flow is moving from one page to the next.
Alternative methods
Process flows are a particular kind of output of process modelling, which is a technique used widely across business, manufacturing and other areas. For understanding how processes - i.e. events organised over some kind of timeline - there is no real alternative. A process flow can be informed by prior requirements capture work, particularly task analysis, use cases & scenarios, personas, taxonomy work, and so on.
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