Customer Reviews

Flowcharts: Plain & Simple: Learning & Application Guide

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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There's almost no reference on the market today about flowcharting basics and their usage for different purposes. Since the basic information is vital for whom plan to begin process mapping, this book is a very good beginning to understand and teach the team the flowcharting basics and different types of flowcharts which can be selected according to your needs. Examples and hints are also very useful.

This book is a tutorial for business flowcharting. This is not a reference book, it is a tutorial; as such it has lot of repetitions and exercises to be sure you learn why and how to create useful flowcharts. If you are a computer programmer, don't get this book, as it does not cover that kind of flowcharts. But if you are a manager, planner, medical doctor (this is a good guide to develop flowcharts for clinical guidelines), or technical writer and you have never created flowcharts before, get this book.

This book cover four flowcharts: basic, detailed, opportunity and deployment charts. They may have other names in other books or softwares but they are the most common types used in the business environment.

The book does NOT cover the usage of any flowcharting software; after reading this you will be able to do it with any software or just with a pencil and paper. The book is about the why, when and how, not about using some software.

The book is pretty easy to read; I think even a child can learn from this book without any problem.

Also, with the book are included some flowcharting paper templates so you can make photocopies and practice.

This thin book provides the basics of flowcharting basics for a very reasonable price without needing to trawl through the internet to find it.

If you know how to draw basic flow charts in applications like Visio and other MS Office tools, it's likely you will find that you will not get anything out of this book.

This book is designed for someone who is completely new to flow charting, or for someone who needs to teach this skill to others.

What I would have like to have seen is an additional section describing the different standards used in flowcharting and a list of common tools that are available.

While most of the information can be found online for free, it is nice to have it printed in one spot.

I found this book extremely helpful for determining how to make and read a flowchart as well as which flowchart type to use for each situation. It includes a handy little referral guide and flowchart worksheets.

For someone that needs a quick introduction and a working knowledge of Business Process Mapping, this book is ideal. Short on theory, its strength is its focus on taking the reader, step by step through the thinkng and processes of using process maps to improve their business operations.