Creating swim lane diagrams has been a staple in the corporate world for many years. The greatest asset of this diagram is that it can clarify complex processes with some easy-to-understand process maps.

The name comes from lanes from swimmers at the pool. It’s the same thing for the swimmers who swim in their lane as it is for employees who are “swimming” in their work lane.

The most important asset of this diagram is that it can help you better understand some of the essential duties of an employee. You can also see how they are developing, what things can be improved, and how they are getting their job done.

The Swim lane diagram is about making the best of the organizational structure. Vertical lanes you see in it can visually explain things that the data from the IT department rarely can.

So, let’s find out more about this process! We’ll tell you everything there is to know about it, and you’ll create swim lane diagrams in a beat!

But before we get into all that, let’s first find the tools we will use in this process. In the case of most office-related things, we can be sure only of one of them. And it’s the one, the only - Microsoft Office. Starting from the name and ending with the possibilities, Microsoft Office is a complete program that you can only benefit from.

Swim lane diagrams can differ regarding the level of detail, what kind of sub-process you want to bring out and which one you want to hide. There are the standard flowchart symbols that you can see in many places or something wackier that is straight from the marketing department.

This swimlane diagram template can substantially enhance the outlook of your business. If you’d think about it, you can see multiple parties swimming in different directions during different quarters of the year. You can add specific tasks to their lanes and see if the process can be optimized further. Swimlane diagrams provide great utility for the desired outcome, and this template is the essence of it. They are highly recommended!

You can download it for free at OfficeTimeline.com.

But - you may want something simpler in your life, which is why creating flowcharts is so fun! This time - it’s a simple swim lane diagram template for you to fill in. There are few lanes, but you can add more if you want; pretty basic swimming pool and, overall, an excellent tool for improved communication!

As you can see, this is an exciting one, much different than your regular flowchart. You can identify areas where you want to improve and, overall, make a difference among other stakeholders. If you want something simple - be sure to check this one out.

You can download this for free at Tools4dev.org.

This template is for those who want to feel modern and fresh in their work environment. It’s not only about efficiency, of course; it’s also about design. It looks, feels, and is just a fantastic visual representation.

Swimlanes are very fancy; the text box looks quite optimized and overall - it’s one of the best-looking templates for all your templates needs. When other departments fail - you can get ahead. So, take this one if you want to add some pizzazz to the overall grey corporate world.

You can download this template for free at OfficeTimeline.com.

The Swim lane diagram is all about clarity. The main goal of creating one is to present information visually. You can improve your company's quality of evaluation and accountability by offering an exceptionally well-crafted diagram.

You can see how employees perform against others, their connections, and how they communicate with other lanes. You can do great things if you’d put your mind to it; it’s just astonishing.

The Swim lane diagram is also known as Rummler-Brache Diagram and, in other circles, a cross-functional diagram. Those diagrams are primarily used in Business Process Models and Notation or Unified Modeling Language. Also, you may encounter it in process flow diagrams.

Where Do People Use It?

In short, it’s widely used in business, IT, and many other branches. People are starting to adopt this diagram for many uses, from primary media, where there are not that many complicated connections, to a high-tech corporate structure, where everything is overwhelming.

You can use it to analyze specific actions; you can insert a tab to get another way of understanding and grow the difficulty level of what you’re trying to study. It’s a valuable element, for sure.

Now that we know a little more about it, let’s explore history to understand where it came from.

Believe it or not, swim lanes have been around for almost a century. Well, to be exact, about 80 years because the first notes on swim lanes came from about the 1940s. Then, it was used to find the connections and visually present the workings of more than one unit within one company. You could call those early flow process charts.

It was a tad different from what we’re used to nowadays, but - it’s still a great way of doing things.

Rummler and Brache

Then, a few people names you may have heard before, Beary Rummler and Alan Brache, wrote  a book called “Improving Processes.” As you may have already guessed, there was a little diagram they proposed. And yes - it was the swim lane diagram.

It’s only an example of usage, but you can find multiple places in the history of optimizing work where something similar to the swim lane diagram was used to benefit the company.

What Are the Attributes of Swim Lane Diagrams?

Swim lane is a flow chart that can be visualized by vertical/horizontal lines that group each employee or department, attaching them to a particular information system.

Every lane you create can be named, and you can add additional labels to each one of them. You start with the employee's name and occupation and end with more in-depth information about skills, dependence, or anything you want to add to it. The possibilities are endless, so feel free to be creative with them.

Analyzing it will quickly show you how all employees or departments interact with each other and can keep a process rolling efficiently.

Creating Your Diagrams

So, let’s go ahead and create our swim lane diagram. How to go about it? Let’s follow those simple steps, and we’ll be diagraming in no time!

Set a Goal

The most important thing to do is to create a goal for yourself. That will determine the elements you will add to your swim lane diagram. It’s essential to get it off the ground before getting into a diagram's latter aspects.

The goal should be precise and more or less attainable. You can go for long-term achievement, but those are much less efficient when combined with a swim lane diagram.

Break It Down

Now that you have a goal, the best thing to do is to break it down into smaller pieces. Your goal may be achieved in many different ways, of course. But the best way to accomplish it is to go ahead and break it down into smaller pieces.

A swim lane diagram works best with capacity constraints, so make sure you put the necessary divides so you can study each part in detail.

Research

Find all the necessary information beforehand to get all the data into the “lanes.” Swim lane diagrams work best when you put a lot of detail into each bracket. If you get all the necessary information correctly, you will be able to check which processes are redundant, and which are must-haves. 

Knowing all your “whos” and “whats” are the essential steps to make everything work efficiently in your swim lane diagram. 

It’s great not only for the existing process you’re overlooking but also for future ones. Increasing efficiency and quality is the game's name, so make it your priority.

How to Start a Swim Lane Diagram?

There are some process steps, but if you can accomplish the basics, you’d be good to go.

You first need to write all the names of the departments or employees on the left side of your swim lane diagram. Then whether you’re using standard symbols or something more complicated, you can add additional lanes or tabs to what you’re creating. This can go ad Infinitum, so don’t fear how complex your diagram will be. You can also use our templates to help you out with that.

After that - you have only to fill out the details, and you’re good to go. Remember to prioritize filling your diagram with multiple levels of detail, as you can probably use it in your further projects.

Recycling in big companies is common, so don’t worry about doing another project with similar information. Data is power, but those who use it efficiently have the most of it.

We hope our article will help you make your own best version of a swim lane diagram. We believe in that tool, and it has a long history of serving people, so we think it can also be of excellent service to you.

You can use it for so many things that it can sometimes be overwhelming. Well, don’t worry; you choose how much data you put in it and what kind of elements you want to emphasize.

Creating a swim lane diagram for your company has many benefits, so be sure to use it to your advantage. After all - it’s better to have one and get ahead of the competition than just thinking about creating one and never accomplishing it.

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