Flow Charting vs The Paperless Office

Flow Charting vs The Paperless Office

By Bill Patton Sr.

A flowchart helps you to know and run a company full of processes! To know and run a flowchart you have to print it out on paper.

And, the more people you give this printed flowchart to, the more you promote knowledge of your processes (especially if you ask your people to draw a flowchart of this same process and theirs is an exact duplicate of yours!)

 If your car's engine gets sluggish and coughs a lot, step A could be a good car wash - but probably no help!  Step B would probably be a repair garage.  Remember however, clogged fuel injectors (maybe $1,500 to $2,500) makes the car act just like a clogged fuel filter ($2.25 less labor).  Now, if you don't know the difference you get to pay the $2,500.

In a corporation if you don't know the difference then the final price is a little steeper- you get to lose your corporation.  It pays you money to have flowcharts on all of your processes.  It settles down the process and stops the screaming fits along with the rejections and line down situations.  With flowcharts, quality is no longer "lip service", it is real - and now the costs for doing bad business starts dropping.  You are actually in control now and even making a profit!

Also there is that small item of ownership - a flowchart gives you knowledge of a process.  I know of two different corporations that had chemical processes (sputter process) that were secret, so secret that when certain key people left and the process failed,they couldn't fix it because they had no flowcharts.  I should add that they are both gone from the business world.

Flowcharts are depicting some of the most technically complex processes in existence, and the people who draw flowcharts are approaching genius level for their knowledge of these processes, comprehension of subtle details, and lastly their desire to communicate with us mere mortals.  But even these near geniuses say they need to print out the flowchart so that they can see the entire chart with their fingers.  They readily admit that they lose the entire chart when trying to step from screen to screen, rather than using a print out.

I am trying to get the message to you that you must print out the charts in order to effectively work with them.  This is due to their complexity.  You can certainly flip through the screens to find an item or some other small detail - but the idea of the flowchart is the "flow" and this has to be seen in its entirety.

I also want you to try printing on larger size paper.  A large flowchart should be printed on large paper.  Yes! I'm actually saying go back to the old Dot Matrix printers with its 11½ x 14 5/8 fan fold paper- we're trying to run a company here - not be neat and concise with 8 ½ x 11 binders that stack well.  At least get a printer that supports 11 x 17 ledger size paper - that's a step in the right direction!