However, none of these cater to business process management and have significant drawbacks.

Process mapping tools are designed for specialists, leading to a steep learning curve.

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is often hard for people to understand

Function more as advanced whiteboards rather than data-centric process mapping solutions.

There is no easy way to organize and understand how the processes are connected

It’s hard to collaborate between people and departments

If you have tried some of these tools and felt some of the mentioned shortcomings, we urge you to see how 

ShiftX has a radically different approach to Process Mapping

A process mapping tool is a software that can significantly improve the way you understand and carry out tasks within your company. By visually outlining your workflows, you can see not only how things are currently done, but also identify opportunities for making your processes more efficient and effective. 

Get a quick introduction to process mapping

Complexity in understanding process maps is a significant barrier. Tools relying on BPMN, with its myriad symbols, can be daunting. Using PowerPoint instead of process mapping tools can make you focus more on aligning graphics.

ShiftX addresses these issues effectively. It is an intuitive, fast, and user-friendly tool, eliminating the need for complex notations. Its drag-and-drop functionality and straightforward path creation make process mapping accessible to all.

Enhancing collaboration in process mapping

knowledge about how a business operates is spread throughout the organization

. To improve business, gather knowledge and best practices from all employees for process mapping.

With ShiftX, it's easy to involve people and assign ownership to parts of a process. In context, they can add details, content, links, or discuss improvement potential with comments.

You can answer questions about where the system is used and what happens before the process." and "Who is responsible for that process?" because everything in ShiftX is data.

If you have ever used Miro, Microsoft Visio, or PowerPoint for process mapping you know it’s like working on a canvas. You cannot view reports on which systems are part of certain processes. You also cannot see the connections between different business processes or the total time a specific path takes in the flow.

With ShiftX you can do all of this and more. We help you and your colleagues see the bigger picture. We explore new perspectives and work on improving your operation.

If you want a more in-depth comparison, check out how we 

Leading the Way in Process Mapping for 2024

Tailored for both Business Process Management and Process Mapping, ShiftX offers a uniq approach. It creates intuitive, consistent process maps without the need for external consultants. Embrace the expertise within your organization and start with ShiftX – it’s user-friendly and free to get started. 

Best Process Mapping Tools and Software for 2024

 in every organization that can significantly improve the way you understand and carry out tasks within your company. By visually outlining your workflows, you can see not only how things are currently done, but also identify opportunities for making your processes more efficient and effective.

And with a process mapping tool like ShiftX, this becomes not just a task but an interactive experience that can involve your entire team and even your stakeholders. Let's walk you through the steps to create a process map that can transform your workflow.

The first step in process mapping is to establish clear goals. What do you want to achieve with your process map? You may want to comply with new regulations, identify potential risks, or improve collaboration between different departments.

Knowing your objectives from the start helps you use process mapping tools more effectively, ensuring each part of your process map has a clear purpose.

In any process, there are individuals or teams who take action. These are your 'actors'. When mapping your process, it's crucial to identify these roles accurately.

This is not just about listing all roles but understanding their impact and contributions to the workflow. It helps in recognizing areas where roles may overlap or where additional resources might be beneficial.

This stage is crucial for developing an effective process map. It allows you to see the bigger picture of how each role interact, leading to a more efficient and well-structured process.

Now, it's time to break down the process into steps. This part is more than just listing what needs to be done, it's about understanding the sequence and how each step leads to the next.

Think of it as drawing a map that someone else can follow without getting lost.

Your goal is to make a process map that's easy to use and helps make the workflow smoother and more efficient. When you're done, you should have a clear guide that explains the whole process in a straightforward way.

The next step in making your process map is to assign roles to each step. This means making it clear which role is responsible for what in each part of the process.

It's about organizing who does what, so there's no confusion later on. Adding roles to each step has big benefits:

 Everyone knows who's in charge of each task. This stops tasks from being missed or done twice.

 When people know their specific roles, they're more likely to take ownership and do their best.

 It's easier to see if a step is missing someone or if one role is doing too much.

Integrating roles into each step of your process map is crucial for creating a well-structured and transparent process. This helps keep everything running smoothly and makes sure everyone knows their part.

After mapping your process, share it with your co-workers. 

 will be a good test of its clarity. They may spot issues or suggest additional steps that you hadn't considered. Be open to their feedback, a fresh set of eyes can be invaluable.

Remember, the goal of sharing the process map with your team is not just to inform them but to engage them. Their input is invaluable, providing a perspectives that can significantly enhance the quality of your process map. Encourage open dialogue and be ready to make adjustments based on their feedback.

For each actor in your process, describe their role and actions in detail. This helps avoid misunderstandings later on. Everyone involved should be able to look at the process map and know exactly what's expected of them and others.

Some steps in your process will be riskier than others. Highlight these areas and assign someone to monitor and manage them. Make a note of any potential solutions or action plans, along with any deadlines.

ShiftX allows you to add comments to each step. Decide how you want to use this feature. Will you keep comments to capture the history of changes, or will you delete them to keep the map clean? Set rules so everyone knows how to use comments effectively.

A process map isn't just a diagram; it can be a repository of knowledge. Link to relevant documents, policies, or regulations directly in your map. Use dynamic links for documents that get updated regularly, so your process map always reflects the most current information.

Some parts of your process may be complex enough to be an own sub-processes. Separate these from your main map to avoid clutter. Make sure these sub-processes have an owner who is responsible for keeping them updated.

Incorporate realistic timeframes into your process map. This helps set expectations for how long each step should take and allows for more accurate planning and scheduling.

Clearly describe how actors in each step interact with each other. Who hands off information to whom? How do different departments communicate within the step? Understanding and defining these interaction points is crucial for a smooth process.

Periodically review your process map to ensure it remains clear and relevant. Look for missing steps, bottlenecks, or any new risks that may have arisen. Regular reviews help keep your process map a living document that evolves with your organization.

By following these steps and using ShiftX, you'll create not just a process map, but a dynamic 

 that will help streamline your workflows, clarify roles and responsibilities, and improve overall efficiency in your organization.

Introduction to Process Mapping

My ongoing and humbling experience tells me that the more I know about a topic, the deeper and wider it seems. So I usually feel more like an expert before I know much about something than I do when I actually know something. Therefore, getting to the point where I can state that I am an expert seems close to impossible.

Passion on the other hand is simpler and more real to talk about in my mind. I am among other things passionate about organization, collaboration and autonomy. In addition I have always had a deep need to understand how things work. People, systems and organizations. This is what eventually led me to co-found ShiftX five years ago. How did it all start?

I was one of the experts. There were two of us, eight of them, a whiteboard and post-it notes. I felt like a fraud. Like we were cheating. Again and again we had these workshops. 6-8 VPs or managers from a wide range of major Norwegian corporations. We were there to help them improve their customer journey which in return would improve their revenue. What did we do? We helped them talk. We helped them visualize problems. Could they have done it without us? Most definitely. I guess a change of scenery always helps. And the fact that they were paying these young experts to help them would make it a little bit harder to cancel the four-hour session from their calendars.

It is amazing what can happen when we take the time to talk. See each other in the eyes. Feel each other's pain. Share one another's excitement. I still fail all the time. In my marriage, in my work, with my kids. I make assumptions. I know! Don’t make assumptions! But it’s so freaking hard not to.

This happens in the workplace as well. At scale. Add some competition, pride and gossip to the mix and we find ourselves in a giant toxic mess. We hide behind busyness, expectations and endless streams of important emails. And hey, don’t ask that question! Someone might think you are stupid or incompetent! This might sound like an exaggeration to some, but normal or even an understatement to others.

If I wasn’t a firsthand witness I wouldn't have used those words. The tension in the room could be so tangible I felt that one tiny misstep would result in total breakdown. That's why I love it when years of misunderstanding and grudge vanish in an instant as one manager finally experiences and feels the pain of another. Seeing each other in the eyes, knowing that we are on the same team and actually listening to what the other has to say is so unbelievably powerful.

Those kinds of stories are what drives us at ShiftX. Yes to AI. Yes to automation. Yes, yes, yes… But don’t forget the people! Having the right balance between autonomy, collaboration and oversight has always been what makes me either thrive and over deliver, or choke and start looking for another job. Trivial small adjustments can have an enormous impact on so many levels. From the bottom line to the lives of the families of your co-workers.

I know this is about culture, and that changing culture is hard. We are not going to state that we are “The Solution” to the problem either. Not yet anyway. What we will say is that we think differently. We think that focusing on the people, believing that most people have a deep desire to do a great job and that building tools that embrace democratization, collaboration and autonomy is key to unlocking new levels of performance, creativity and continuous improvement in any organization.

Let’s go back to the workshops. To the heart of improving customer journeys. We started to see a pattern. It was so predictable that we now consider it the rule rather than the exception. Let me try to explain what we saw.

When going on a journey you bring a map. And if you found this article you might be familiar with “Customer Journey Maps” or “Business Process Maps”. Here is the issue. Given a map of a city, a regular human being knows exactly what it is and is able to make sense of it quickly. That is not usually the case with 

I can hear all the objections to my statement. Organizations are complex! They change all the time! There are so many variations, levels, technical details, compliance requirements and more. Yes! That is true. But if your goal is to help someone understand how to get from SOHO to Central Park you don’t give them a map of the sewage system or the electrical grid. You give them a high-level overview of Manhattan, probably with the Subway as an overlay.

Why is it then that managers, VPs and leaders across businesses all over the world are given maps that they don’t understand? Or even worse, they are required to produce maps they don’t understand. And end up hiring consultants to produce 

. And therefore creating maps that have a 100% guarantee of being somewhere between inaccurate and complete nonsense.

I think we can do better, and that we should do better.

I’m amazed at all the hard-working, diligent people we meet. The sacrifice managers have to make as they try to deliver on their KPIs while serving and meeting the needs of their employees. That’s also why I think that they deserve great tools that help them do their job, that are easy to use and that promotes involvement and delegation.

We are still a small company with a lot to prove and a long way to go, but we have enough traction and excited customers for us to know we are onto something. We strongly believe most 

 in the EA (Enterprise Architecture) and BPM (Business Process Management) space greatly miss the mark on user experience. The consequence is way bigger than the lack of functionality, it’s a fundamental flaw. We live to fix it. 

Kill the grudge, free the people and revolutionize BPM

Visio alternative

Take advantage of the extensive sharing options to distribute a process outside your workspace.

Don't stop sharing

Share the process. Spread the knowledge.

Process improvement. One step at a time.

Great ways to use ShiftX

Fast and understandable process mapping

Process Analyst

Process mapping and management

Map smarter with actors

From Journey Mapping to Service Blueprints

Improve indefinitely

Turn insight into action

Journey mapping as it should be

Key Account Manager

Customer journeys

Use cases

Product

Process mapping

Customer journey

Routines

Solutions

Templates

Integrations

Pricing

 Read more and see available positions ->

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have been highly debated and relevant subjects for years now. We are currently on the brink of what many are already calling a “new technological revolution” where AI will be running the show (Lansiti and Lakhani, 2020). In the future, artificial intelligence will take over most tasks that require hard skills. This means that organizations must develop and improve in the areas where they have an advantage over machines: soft skills.

“Hard skills concern an employee’s ability to do a specific task, and soft skills are more about the way they do them — how they adapt, collaborate, solve problems, and make decisions” (Anderson, 2020).

While hard skills demand specialized knowledge and technical and analytical abilities, soft skills are more about behavior and thinking, personal traits, and cognitive skills.

Does the future belong to the generalists?

Vikram Mansharamani states in his article that “… breadth of perspective and the ability to connect the proverbial dots (the domain of generalists) is likely to be as important as the depth of expertise and the ability to generate dots (the domain of specialists)” (2020). He continues to argue that, in a rapidly changing world where technologies are developed at record speed and are automating and replacing jobs, we need to develop our skills to understand the bigger picture. Just think of how rapidly the world changed with the development of the Internet and wireless data technologies.

For example, Jeff Bezos was not a retail specialist who took on his competitors and won. He was a relative newcomer to retail but could adapt rapidly and seize a gigantic opportunity because he saw the bigger picture and understood the implications of new technology.

The business world is already catching up on this trend. Recruiters see a higher demand for soft skills as big companies want more versatile and flexible employees. One example is Lisa Stern Hayes, one of Google's top recruiters, who said in a podcast that the company now values “… problem-solvers who have a “general cognitive ability” rather than role-related knowledge” (Mansharamani, 2020).

Interested in learning more about AI and soft vs. hard skills? Check out these articles:

The Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills of 2020

ShiftX is a new way to do business process modeling. By focusing on usability and collaboration, we aim to close the knowledge gap between the different groups and sections in your company, organization or unit by enabling everyone to participate and share their insights.

Agile organizations - The new normal: Soft skills vs. hard skills

What are soft and hard skills?

Does the future belong to the generalists?

Give it a go - it's free

Show me more

Best Process Mapping Tools and Software for 2024

Introduction to Process Mapping

Kill the grudge, free the people and revolutionize BPM