Cross Functional Flowchart
Plan for any undesirable actions, outcomes, or behaviors that occur in the workplace. Clarify different team responsibilities and identify bottlenecks using a Cross-Functional flowchart.
About the Cross-Functional Flowchart
Cross-functional flowcharts (also known as a “swim lane diagram” or “cross-functional process map” ) can help you visualize business relationships and end-to-end project contributions. These elements that depend on each other can include the relationship between functions and stakeholders (such as departments and clients) or project phases and milestones.
The map format allows you to make your business processes or project phases more transparent with added layers of detail and structure.
Keep reading to learn more about cross-functional flowcharts.
What is a Cross-Functional flowchart?
A cross-functional flowchart shows how people from different teams contribute to, and complete, a business process or project.
The lanes in the chart can help separate and clarify which department, employee, or person outside of the business contributes to a business or project.
Each person (such as a customer, client, or representative from a specific function) who contributes to the big-picture process is assigned a lane. That assigned area outlines all the activities they are responsible for moving forward to the finish line.
When to use a Cross-Functional flowchart
Cross-functional flowcharts can be used to improve your team and organizational processes. These changes can include the need to work out what factors create inefficiencies and address delays that impact both internal and external stakeholders.
A cross-functional flowchart can also help different teams or departments better understand each other’s responsibilities and capabilities. These details are especially useful when people haven’t worked together before or struggle to understand what different teams do on a day-to-day basis. Consistently collaborating with an online flowchart creates greater transparency and alignment.
Create your own Cross-Functional flowchart
Making your own cross-functional flowchart is easy. Miro’s virtual collaboration platform is the perfect flowchart maker and canvas for sharing them. Get started by selecting the Cross-Functional Flowchart Template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.
1. Decide what your lanes are.
Decide what divisions (functions) or identities (internal or external stakeholders) need representation on the flow chart.
2. Define what the start of your process is.
What’s the first action that triggers a series of tasks or interactions? Maybe it’s a client confirmation or a customer request. Each division will have a different starting point, but you’ll see that there may be points in the journey or interaction where functions or individuals coincidentally meet (or need to coordinate and communicate, for a smoother process to roll out).
3. Keep adding steps to your process until you get to the last step or endpoint.
What does the flow of information look like from start to finish? What decisions need to be made? Ask yourself and your team these questions as you map out each situation. Try to convert your quick sketches to sticky notes, shapes, and connecting lines that work together to create a logical flow chart.
4. Update your flow chart as needed—and use it alongside other process-based templates.
Cross-functional process maps were designed to work alongside – or be connected to – other templates, such as a product roadmap or stakeholder mapping tool. Rally your teammates, stakeholders, and leadership team around a people-first vision by helping them see the bigger picture alongside the all-important details.
Get started with this template right now.
Product Roadmap Template
Works best for:
Product Management, Roadmaps
Product roadmaps help communicate the vision and progress of what’s coming next for your product. It’s an important asset for aligning teams and valuable stakeholders – including executives, engineering, marketing, customer success, and sales – around your strategy and priorities. Product roadmapping can inform future project management, describe new features and product goals, and spell out the lifecycle of a new product. While product roadmaps are customizable, most contain information about the products you’re building, when you’re building them, and the people involved at each stage.
User Interview Template
Works best for:
Desk Research, Product Management
A user interview is a UX research technique in which researchers ask the user questions about a topic. They allow your team to quickly and easily collect user data and learn more about your users. In general, organizations conduct user interviews to gather background data, to understand how people use technology, to take a snapshot of how users interact with a product, to understand user objectives and motivations, and to find users’ pain points. Use this template to record notes during an interview to ensure you’re gathering the data you need to create personas.
This or That Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Meetings, Workshops
If you’re a social media manager, a designer, or just someone who loves photography, then you’ve probably seen the “This or That” game on Instagram. The premise is simple: You make two parallel lists that pit a series of choices against each other, like “apples or oranges” or “pizza or hot dogs”. The Instagram user chooses between the various options by circling the one that they prefer. Then they share the completed game with their followers. Although it was popularized on Instagram, you can use This or That on other social media platforms too, or even your website or blog.
Weekly Planner Template
Works best for:
Business Management, Project Planning
In our hectic world, it can be hard to plan out a schedule and stick to it. Whether you’re rigorous about scheduling or you struggle to keep your calendar updated, you’ll benefit from a weekly planner. A weekly planner is a schedule of your plans and activities over a week. It enables you to manage your time, track tasks, and organize your team by day. Unlike most paper planners, which are not personalizable, you can change up this weekly planner to create an agenda that fits your needs.
SMART Goals Template
Works best for:
Prioritization, Strategic Planning, Project Management
Setting goals can be encouraging, but can also be overwhelming. It can be hard to conceptualize every step you need to take to achieve a goal, which makes it easy to set goals that are too broad or too much of a stretch. SMART is a framework that allows you to establish goals in a way that sets you up for success. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. If you keep these attributes in mind whenever you set goals, then you’ll ensure your objectives are clear and reachable. Your team can use the SMART model anytime you want to set goals. You can also use SMART whenever you want to reevaluate and refine those goals.
Azure Data Flow Template
Works best for:
Software Development, Diagrams
The Azure Data Flow is a diagram that will allow you to combine data and build and deploy custom machine learning models at scale. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, designed to provide many cloud-based services like remote storage, database hosting, and centralized account management. Azure also offers new capabilities like AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).