How would you make a flowchart displaying work between teams when individuals are on multiple teams?

Anonymous

August 15,2022 at 5:15PM UTC

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How would you make a flowchart displaying work between teams when individuals are on multiple teams? The COO of my organization, who I don’t even directly report to, is giving me menial, virtually impossible tasks that take time out of my actual work… maybe because I am new with multiple skill sets that are not already present in the org and she sees me as a threat? Anyway, the latest: a flowchart displaying workflows for a team that is still being developed, “circular and linear”. The team is divided into 6 teams, but the individuals on each team sometimes reappear. For example, I am listed on 3 of those teams, and they are not directly next to each other in the order she wants. She suggested I try a circular flowchart, and I explained this would look like a web, and a coworker chimed in agreeing with me. I am so tired of being given tasks like this and simultaneously being left out of important decisions that are relevant to my actual role. But now this has to be done by today, so if anyone has links to Canva/Visme templates or others that I could use so I don’t go insane, please share.

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AnonymousSeptember 1,2022 at 5:39PM UTC
I don't know enough about the attitude of the COO to know if she would see you as a threat, she could or she really might not have any idea about the team. There is a significant difference between being told something will look like a web and actually seeing it. Sometimes people just need to see it to realize just how much of a mess it really is. It could be that she knows that people are overworked and want a better understanding of the current flow of projects so that resources can be added or reassigned to make things more efficient and relieve the burden. The result could end up with you being included in important decisions that are relevant to your role. It would be worth asking what her end goal is with this.
Another thing is that no matter how menial it is, if it's assigned to you, it's now technical part of your job. It sucks, I know, having been assigned tasks like this before I totally understand. A better way to approach it is to ask when the ideal deadline is on this and then look at your current tasks and talk about how those deadlines will need to shift to accommodate the new work.
Think of yourself as the leader of a project instead of someone getting a menial task. Get the rest of the people involved that are on the team(s) and have them help you. You would be responsible for the final output, but at least you wouldn't have to do all of the actual work.
I hope you figured this specific project out. In case you have to do something like this in the future, I like doing stuff like this with post-its and then covert it to digital. I make it linear first so that the project moves in a straight line. People might show up multiple times, but it lets me see the dependencies and the path the task takes. Then I do the circular one. If you are doing the flow of multiple projects, color code them so that each one is a different color. Also use arrows and numbers (also color coded) so that if a team/person is showing up at the beginning and end of the project you can see where their deliverables at the beginning and the end go and follow it.
Anyways, I know that it's been a couple of weeks since this project, so I'm sure you already figured out a path forward, but just wanted to give some food for thought for future projects. :)
Sarah LarsonSeptember 9,2022 at 5:46PM UTC
What an interesting question. It may be more beneficial to do a swim lane diagram for each process then connecting those processes by owner circularly "zoomed out."
I.e. do a swim lane for each process each team is responsible for and who does what. Then link each team in the "web" by process to give you macro version of the micro.
Alternatively, you could use a swim lane diagram for everything by team. So instead of listing the responsible individual in a process you could list the team. That would give you a linear idea of how each process works. From there you can create a web /circular diagram by process.
Swim lane explainer: https://www.officetimeline.com/swimlane-diagram
I hope this helps!