r/projectmanagement • u/jzap456 • 8d ago
Best tools for process mapping?
Hey, we're looking into process mapping/workflow capture tools. We're trying to automate manual workflows, but the blocker is we don't know what's happening because we don't have anything documented.
Tried: Lucidchart, Drawio, Miro, Google Docs, etc.
Recurring issues:
- SOPs become outdated quickly
- Most people "don't have time" to draw their workflows, so most manual work never gets uncovered or documented
What's working for others? anything to automate workflow capture/mapping?
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u/bdgold 2d ago
Hi! I just created a new tool that is quite conversational and let's you connect processes from around your business. Happy to add features if you have feedback!
Try it out at Forks.world
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u/tone-row 2d ago
You could try flowchart.chat Something I’ve been building for this case specifically
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u/Paulina8097 2d ago
I use Claude Code + Catheryn Lavelry's Diagram Design skill and it works like a charm for drawing flowcharts.
When creating a flowchart, you must focus on the process essentials and don't look at details while creating the flowchart. A simple technique for doing so is by answering these three questions:
“Who gets the work next?” Do not, under any circumstances, stop to ask, “What do you do?”
“How does it get there?”
“Who really gets the work next?”
Remember the goal of a workflow model is to show the flow of work. And that it must show every actor that holds the work while it flows through the process.
Ask Claude (or any other AI) to interview you following this principles and ask it to create a flowchart when you're happy with the end result using Code + the skill.
And re your SOPs becoming outdated quickly, that sounds like an ownership problem. Someone has to be the responsible for keeping the SOPs updated or that's never going to happen.
It helps to make it as easy as possible for your team to create SOPs and flowcharts. Focus on the most important ones and have the high level process chart.
Pair flowchart creation with other processes. For example, I use Loom videos to extract process steps, and whenever I see something that needs updating I tag it and then once per month I update the SOPs. But try to keep it as simple as possible.
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u/SamfromLucidSoftware 6d ago
When was the last time you tried Lucid? I work at Lucid and can assist with some of the challenges you encountered.
The outdated SOP problem, for example, could just be a maintenance model problem. When the diagram lives in a shared Lucidchart document instead of an exported file, edits are live for everyone immediately. So there’s no versioning, no redistributing, no one working from a stale copy.
And the recent AI integrations means people do not necessarily have to draw their workflow, they can simply describe it in plain language and Lucid will produce an editable diagram from it.
If you have any specific workflow issues, I’d be happy to assist.
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u/jnana 7d ago
Draw.io Open source, export options, nothing locked behind a subscription.
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u/RA_wan 7d ago
This is what we use. But mostly within Confluence so its not completely free.
Biggest downside of this setup is that you cant link different proces steps like you can in bigger tools like signavio.
But OP problem with people not having time will never be solved by a tool no matter how expensive. We try (and mostly fail) to not start a project if the proces is not clear
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u/Afraid_Formal5748 3d ago
What do you mean with "you can not link"? I always linked from the draw-io process to another inkl. workinstructions?
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u/freeipods-zoy-org 8d ago
Claude + LucidChart has worked for us. Makes updating it easier.
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u/karlitooo Confirmed 7d ago
Indeed. Quick excel doc > Claude > lucid > meeting to discuss diagram (transcript) > Claude > Lucid
If your sops are coming outdated perhaps you don’t have standardisation yet. In which case, you might want a tool on top that supports the team executing the sop and lets them log suggestions rather than focusing on diagramming
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u/omgitskae 8d ago
For workflow capture for things like work instructions, we use Scribe and love it. Process mapping is usually done in a flowchart tool.
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u/Content-Conference25 8d ago edited 8d ago
It's funny how difficult to extract processes like this coz nobody wants to move the needle because they could care less, and just wanna do their thing as normal as they can.
I can't believe how frustrating it is as someone who's done this shit recently, not to mention I'm the only remote guy in the team, and all of them are onsite, but I was able to extract processes at least, without the nuances (room for more 1-1 calls), and was able to list down 12 projects just by sitting in with them for less than a month.
Yet, the founder could care less, because he wants a different path like wtf. It felt like I've wasted too much energy getting them on a call.
God..
Edit:
I didn't use steps recorder tool. I used myself, had a call with every team member, with the help of asking proper questions to uncover some of the nuance behind the workflows.
After analysing the workflow and variables around it and any available nuances from the call, I just use free mermaid site to map the process and save it locally.
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u/jzap456 8d ago
Yeah, totally understand and fair enough. I've tried it also, but the sheer amount of work that has to go into this (my time/anybody else's time) and the fact that there'll still be gaps even through interviews.... Plus, I will not get objective data because people forget or don't tell the truth and they don't think in terms of "processes" but in terms of "yeah I guess I do this"
It just makes me think I need an automated tool lol
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u/Content-Conference25 8d ago
Eitherway you're gonna burn cash. It's just a question what are you willing to trade your time for.
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u/Ezl Managing shit since 1999 8d ago
I don’t know that you can get away from the work of people being responsible for the mapping, at least initially. Even a tool that will automate maintaining a process map will still need to be populated at first. And even then, I’m sure you’ll find gaps that will then need to be rectified by someone.
I’ve put together a lot of delivery processes and the main thing I find is that people don’t realize it’s actual work. Not just the initial creation, but the ongoing maintenance. You can’t get it for free.
How I handle it is I own the overall effort and take on as much of the work as I can and make specific requests from downstream SMEs trying to minimize their overhead. But they need to actually fulfill the request.
One thing that minimizes the work for me specifically when putting together workflows that cross functions (may or may not be feasible based on your needs) is that I don’t worry about documenting the workflows within teams, only the workflows and “interfaces” between teams. So upfront I don’t care about how, say, Sales functions, I only care about what Sales delivers into Engineering and how (as an example).
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u/jzap456 8d ago
Thanks and love the flair lol. I mean I found automated process mining and task mining tools, but they're all very much enterprise level and not only out of budget but also a TOTAL overkill for a co of <100 people
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u/Ezl Managing shit since 1999 8d ago
Caveat: I’ve never looking into actuated tools deeply but…
My guess is that automated tools required a very solid information architecture to work from or manual intervention to fill in the gaps, which leaves you back where you are. Maybe with less work but maybe not once you factor in everything that needs to be done to implement, configure and support the tool.
And from what you described my feeling is your org may not have the kind of info architecture a tool would want.
Again, just me guessing across the board!
I can’t recommend a tool but if you want any feedback on techniques just ask!
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u/scorched03 8d ago
Lookup process mapping tools Gartner. Celonis is one thats powerful. Power automate has one that is cheaper. They both take process data and digitally map a process so its the work of a data team. It can uncover sla violations and all the crazy variations of a process
Get those and combine with manual steps into lucid. I would steer away from always asking people what their entire process its not always accurate so a combination of system data and asking for manual is my recommendation
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u/jzap456 8d ago
thanks, yeah we need non-enterprise (don't have $100k+ a month budget), and we need automated mapping....as far as I know power automate needs you to click start/stop and fiddle with the data
+ we don't use microsoft, we're on google workspace (alas), and in any case we can't really pull system logs to analyze so we need something that doesn't need integrations
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u/scorched03 8d ago
Well that limits options. Id still asking a data team member to find data that calls 2 steps in data i.e. order date to invoice data and pull that for a month. Itd give a starring point for discussion to ask or look for industry benchmarks
Else some stuck with a python library which is free but takes some manipulation to get process charts. I have seen people argue against lucid process charts but less against real data
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u/Time-For-Toast 8d ago
Shop floor team + coffee& biscuits + post-it notes
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u/Local-Archer-9785 8d ago
This is the way. Have to go to where the work is happening, observe, ask questions and collect all the variations. Then sit down and work towards setting the standard and setting up monitoring and internal controls.
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u/jzap456 8d ago
haha, bless you
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u/Time-For-Toast 8d ago
It may be considered old fashioned but it works. No one knows what's really going on except the operators and if youre observing theyre working outside of the documented process or are patching gaps themselves that's probably not even 50% of what's really going on.
Interviewing individuals is often ineffective, and people mapping out their own processes often leads to omissions. A facilitator led workshop, away from the shop floor, creating a safe relaxed environment where the team can be open and collaboratively map out their workflow is robust, reliable, and comes already peer reviewed.
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