Process Map

A process map is a visual diagram of how work actually flows through a process, step by step, from trigger to finished result, including the decision points where the path branches. Drawn as boxes and arrows, it makes a fuzzy "how we do this" explicit enough to see, question, and improve. You can map anything: how a lead becomes a customer, how an order gets fulfilled, how a support ticket gets resolved.

For a lean founder the act of mapping is often more valuable than the map itself. Drawing the real flow on paper surfaces the duplicated steps, the silent handoffs, the place where everything waits on you. You almost always spot waste you couldn't see while living inside the process. It's also the prerequisite for delegating well, because you can't hand off a process you've never made visible. Map the few processes that matter most, find the steps that add no value, and cut them. Then the cleaned-up map becomes the basis for an SOP or an automation.