Flowcharts (captioned)

Explained by Common Craft
Completing almost any task involves a process. To better understand or improve that process it can help to visualize the steps with a flowchart. This video explains flowcharts and why they are used.
Embed Download

How We Can Help You:

- More Info & Transcript

Video Transcript:

When we pick out clothes, make breakfast or wash dishes, we go through processes with multiple steps.

To make one of these processes more efficient, we need a way to visualize it. This means laying out steps and decisions so we can truly understand how it works. With this understanding, we can improve the process or teach it to someone else.

A flowchart is a great way to draw and understand a process. The big idea is that almost any process can be drawn and analyzed using a flowchart.

Organizations large and small use flowcharts to understand and improve processes to help the them be more efficient. This could include how a product is built in a factory, how travelers move through an airport, or how a computer program is designed.

Let’s look at a simple example. Imagine it’s time to do the laundry. Your clothes need to be washed with a washing machine. We’ll use a set of standard flowchart shapes to draw this process.

Each process has a beginning, like deciding to do laundry. We’ll use an oval as our starting point. Now we need a way to connect that starting point to the next step, so we’ll use a line with an arrow. Next we’ll need to gather the clothes to be washed. This is an activity and we’ll use a rectangle for this step.

Now, we need to make a decision about the clothes with a yes or no answer.  We’ll use a diamond that points to each answer. We’ll sort the clothes by asking whether the fabric is white or not.

This splits the process in two, with different activities. Clothes with colored fabric are washed with cold water and clothes with white fabric are washed with hot water.

In both cases, we take specific steps to add soap, turn on the washer and inspect the clothes when finished. With this process complete, we have another decision: are the clothes clean?  
 If so, yay, the process is finished.  If not, the process can start over with a new input, symbolized by a parallelogram.
 
The clothes with colored fabric get a stain remover added and clothes with white fabric get bleach added.

We’ve now drawn a flowchart to visualize and understand a process. Each step and decision is represented, along with what to do when activities have different results.

This may help us improve the process, or show someone how to wash clothes effectively.

By laying out each step of a process in a standard way, we can not only understand it and find ways to improve it, but help others learn and see it from a new perspective.

 

What it teaches:

Using an example of washing laundry, this video walks through the process of creating a simple flowchart and discusses why flowcharts can be useful in many other contexts. It teaches:

  • Why it’s important to be able to visualize a process
  • How processes can be understood and improved using a flowchart
  • Why organizations use flowcharts
  • How to structure a simple flowchart

Video Info:

  • Duration:  02m 52s
  • Captions Available:  YES
  • Lesson Plan:  YES
  • Category:  Technology, Study Skills
  • ISTE Standard:  Computational Thinker, Indicator 5c
  • ACRL Info Literacy Frame:  Information Creation as a Process
Plans and Pricing

Related Videos - View All Videos

Explain Your Ideas with Cut-outs

Make your next creative project remarkable using our library of 3,388 original, matching visuals.

Download high resolution images to your computer and use them in presentations, documents, training materials, videos and more.

Learn MoreSearch the Library

"I use Common Craft Cut-outs to explain complex concepts and brighten presentations at our company."
- Julie Rieken, CEO, Trakstar and Reviewsnap
Explainer Academy
Develop powerful explanation skills. Learn to create animated explainer videos. 
 
Join Common Craft founder Lee LeFever in online, self-paced courses at the Explainer Academy.

Go To ExplainerAcademy.com

"In a word, the Explainer Academy was delightful, very well executed, and very practical."
- Bill Welter, President, Adaptive Strategies
 

Find the Right Plan for You

Plans and Pricing