Flowcharts for Technical Communication
Flowcharts for Technical Communication
Dianna Deeney explores using flowcharts to understand our users' needs
When starting a new project, we gather as much information as we can about the users and products. Getting that information and organizing it in a way that helps with the design of technical communication products can be challenging.
Flowcharts are a common tool for technical communicators. They are useful to help map out the steps people take to accomplish tasks and can be a way to start to organize information. We take the time to create a flowchart and do learn from the exercise, but then it’s shelved.
Is there more we can do with a flowchart? Yes!
Manufacturing and quality engineers use flowcharts for production. They analyze flowcharts to optimize and prioritize tasks, and they use them with others for alignment of ideas and to learn about the process for continuous improvement.
The same techniques used to maximize production in industry can be used for technical communication: to better understand the user’s process to optimize, prioritize, and for alignment. Knowing more about a user’s process will affect how you design products used for technical communication.
[Resource] Make a free flowchart with FlowChart Maker.
🖥️ Webinar
Flowcharts for Technical Communication: Taking it Further with Quality Tools
Presenter: Dianna Deeney, Quality during Design
Date: August 22, 2023, The Content Wrangler
Attend of this session to learn how to:
• Use flowcharts to get alignment with others about a user’s process.
• Evaluate flowcharts to identify what is critical to quality.
• Analyze flowcharts to identify what is value-added.
• Use deployment flowcharts to understand multiple user’s roles in completing tasks.
Can’t make the live event? Register, and we’ll send you a link to watch a recording when convenient.