Flowchart
A flowchart is a diagram that represents a sequence of steps and decisions as shapes connected by arrows. Rectangles hold actions, diamonds hold decisions, rounded terminators mark the start and end, and the arrows carry the order. It is the standard visual language for describing how anything with steps (a business process, an algorithm, a troubleshooting routine) actually flows.
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Create Your Flowchart FreeAnatomy of a flowchart
Every flowchart is built from the same parts: exactly one start terminator; process shapes holding one action each; decision diamonds whose outgoing arrows are labeled with answers; flow lines whose arrowheads define the order; and one or more end terminators naming how the flow can finish. Optional extras (document shapes, data parallelograms, sub-process markers, lanes for roles) refine the picture without changing the grammar.
The format's power is that the grammar is closed: a reader who knows five conventions can read any flowchart ever drawn, which is more than can be said for most documentation formats.
Main flowchart types
The common variants are all the same grammar applied at different scopes:
- Process flowchart: a business or operational process, start to finish.
- Workflow flowchart: recurring team-level operational work such as tickets, approvals, and publishing pipelines.
- Cross-functional (swimlane) flowchart: any of the above with lanes assigning steps to roles or departments.
- Decision flowchart / decision tree: decision-dense flows such as triage rules, eligibility checks, and troubleshooting guides.
- Program flowchart: the original use, charting algorithm logic, now mostly replaced by code itself.
A short history
The format predates computing: Frank and Lillian Gilbreth presented "process charts" to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1921 as a way to make industrial work visible. Computing adopted and standardized the notation mid-century (the ANSI and later ISO 5807 symbol sets date from charting programs and data processing), and business process work inherited the conventions when the diagrams outlived the mainframes.
The survivor set is small: terminator, process, decision, arrow. Those four symbols have meant the same thing to every reader for the better part of a century, which is exactly why the format still works.
Frequently asked questions
What is a flowchart?
A diagram showing a sequence of steps and decisions as connected shapes: rectangles for actions, diamonds for decisions, rounded shapes for start/end, and arrows for the order in which things happen.
What are flowcharts used for?
Documenting business processes and workflows, encoding decision logic (triage, eligibility, troubleshooting), explaining a process to new people, and agreeing on the current state of a process before improving it.
Who invented the flowchart?
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth introduced the "process chart" to engineers in 1921. The computing era standardized the symbols (ANSI, then ISO 5807), and business use carried the notation forward.
What's the easiest way to make a flowchart?
Type it instead of drawing it. In ProcessFlowchart.app you list steps one per row with their shape and connections, and the flowchart lays itself out, free, no signup.
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The editor opens with a starter flowchart. Type your steps one per row, and the chart rebuilds itself as you type. No signup required to get started.
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