Flowcharts and workflows with an owner per step.

The flowchart symbols in their agreed meanings, and swimlanes that name who does each step — so the handoff that stalls is the one you can see.

lantern coffee · the 8 a.m. line · order steps
CustomerCashierBaristayesno · pay firstArriveOrder atthe counterPick upTake the orderPaid?TicketBrewCall the name

The symbols in their agreed meanings.

A decision is a diamond, a document has a wavy edge, a database is a cylinder, an off-page link says where the process goes on. The flowchart symbols mean what everyone in the room already reads into them, so the argument is about the process and not about the drawing.

Every flowchart figure, named ↓

lantern coffee · the 8 a.m. line · symbols
Process
Terminator
Decision
Data
Document
Predefined process
Manual input
Database
On-page connector
Off-page link

A step opens its own board.

Brew carries a green dot: under it is the bar's own flow — pull the shot, steam the milk, oat or not, pour, hand it to the pass. The order's process stays one screen long, and the barista's detail is one click down.

Read more: Boards that open boards →

order steps
Brew1
order steps › brew · the bar
Pull shotSteam milkOat?oat milkwhole milkyesnoPourTo the pass

Swimlanes are one figure.

What stalls work is rarely a step; it is a handoff, and a handoff only shows when the picture says who owns which step. The lanes here are bands of one figure rather than loose rectangles lined up by hand: their names are a field, their widths are stored on the drawing, and dragging a divider re-weighs them without moving anything placed in a lane.

Read more: Figures that show the data →

order steps · the lanes
CustomerCashierBaristaTake orderBrew
the figure's fields
lanesCustomer · Cashier · Barista
widthson the drawing
steps in a lanestay put

Every figure, named.

The toolbar's own names — what you pick is what this list says: three groups, 25 figures.

Flowchart15

Lanes and framing6

Time in the process4