Swimlane Diagram Template
Bring clarity to your processes and define roles and responsibilities with the Swimlane Diagram Template. Say goodbye to messy workflows and welcome agile ways of working.
About the Swimlane Diagram Template
When processes start to get messy, it’s a good idea to take a step back and visualize who does what and when. Enter: the swimlane diagram. This digestible, one-stop visual representation uses the metaphor of lanes in a pool to clarify a complex process.
Keep reading to learn more about how to use a Swimlane Diagram, and how it can help your team stay organized!
What is a Swimlane Diagram?
A Swimlane Diagram takes a familiar, everyday physical place (a lap pool) and turns the idea of “swimlanes” into a metaphor for organizing processes within a team, workgroup, department, or multilayered organization.
When too many swimmers in your process start to muddy the water, use a Swimlane Diagram to clarify. Swimlanes diagrams are a simple, visually appealing way to simplify processes that would otherwise be overly complex.
Create your own Swimlane Diagram
Creating a Swimlane Diagram is easy (and your team will thank you!). Miro’s Swimlane Diagram Template is the perfect way to create and present clear responsibilities, processes, and your new way of working. Get started by selecting the Miro Swimlane Diagram Template, then follow these steps to make it your own.
1. Be clear about your goals
Before you start diagramming, determine your desired outcome. Usually, swimlane flowchart templates come out of an organizational need to visualize how multiple contributors or teams work together through the various stages of a process.
2. Name your swimlanes and start mapping out a process
Customize the swimlane flowchart to map your process so you can quickly identify gaps, role redundancies, roadblocks, and bottlenecks—if there’s an inefficiency, you’ll find it right away.
3. Interview stakeholders to get buy-in and clarity
In order to get greater clarity and buy-in, conduct quick interviews with stakeholders to find out how their responsibilities fit into the broader, holistic process. These can be adjusted while you work!
4. Finish your flow mapping or the “who does what"
These may be employees, smaller working groups, or large departments. Remember, there’s no wrong way to draw your pool! You can use as many lanes as your process demands and they can go north to south or east to west – whichever way makes the most sense for your needs!
Swimlane Diagram Example
As you can see, a Swimlane Diagram helps you clarify and organize all the steps and stakeholders of your processes visually. It’s the perfect diagram to manage business transactions, where you have different departments across the flow.
Add to each swimlane the departments involved, such as customer service, sales, inventory, and payment. In our swimlane diagram example, you can see how the shapes and lines will direct this business flow.
Afterward, identify the steps for each and connect them with hard or dotted lines. Once you finish it, you can have an excellent overview of your business process.
What is the purpose of a swimlane diagram?
The Swimlane Diagram's purpose is to clarify processes and simplify their visualization. You can easily identify roles and responsibilities with the swimlane flowchart template, besides spotting right away any process dependencies and bottlenecks. Miro’s swimlane diagram example is about a business transaction, but you can use this template and customize it as you see fit.
How do you make a Swimlane Diagram?
You can start making your swimlane diagram using Miro's pre-made template. The template helps you to diagram the swimlanes easier, as you can add more rows and columns according to your needs. After you set your swimlane flowchart template, start adding the roles and process steps to it. Then, assign responsible departments or people to the swimlanes and connect the steps with arrows and lines.
Get started with this template right now.
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