Module 5 · Lesson 5.2
Process map and canvas
Two related tools that do different jobs, and why organisations need both.
Key idea
A process map shows how work flows. The canvas shows the agreement at each handoff. Use the map to find the handoffs and the canvas to agree them.
See the canvas
This lesson refers to Harbourline’s project to service handoffs in the Structured Collaboration Canvas™. The worked example opens in a new tab.
Two related tools
Process maps and the Structured Collaboration Canvas™ are related tools, but they do different jobs.
A process map shows how work flows through a sequence of activities: the steps, the decision points, the delays, the duplication, the rework and the handoffs. It answers the question: what happens, in what order?
The canvas shows the agreement at each handoff: what must pass across it, what the key words mean, and what happens when something is missing. It answers the question: what do these two teams need from each other?
Used together, the process map makes the flow of work visible, and the canvas, supported by operational definitions, makes the agreement at each interface explicit.
A Harbourline handoff, both ways
Harbourline · Bids and Proposals and the Salesforce practice
Harbourline’s Win work value stream runs from a lead to a signed contract. One of its steps is handing a won deal from Bids and Proposals in Cork to the Kraków Salesforce practice, which will deliver the project.
On the process map, that step is a single arrow: “Hand the won deal to delivery.” The map shows that it happens, roughly when, and what comes before and after. It doesn’t show what the Salesforce practice needs to receive.
On the canvas, the same handoff is a Deliverable on the Bids and Proposals canvas and an Input on the Salesforce practice canvas:
- Deliverable from Bids and Proposals: “Signed contract with the promised service levels”, sent to the Salesforce practice through a handover pack.
- Input to the Salesforce practice: the same item, from Bids and Proposals, currently rated at 80% of what the team needs.
- Operational definition behind both: “Delivery sign-off”, meaning the delivery manager who will run the project has estimated the work and agreed the service levels the proposal promises. The test: no proposal leaves Harbourline without the named delivery manager’s sign-off on it.
The map tells you a handoff exists. The canvas tells you whether the two teams agree on what it contains.
Try it
One handoff, two tools
The won deal passing from Bids and Proposals in Cork to the Kraków Salesforce practice. Switch between the tools.
| What you see | A single arrow: “Hand the won deal to delivery.” |
|---|---|
| The question it answers | What happens, in what order? |
| What it shows | That the handoff exists, roughly when, and what comes before and after. |
The map makes the flow visible. The canvas, with operational definitions, makes the agreement at each handoff explicit.
Why organisations need both
Most organisations that have invested in process improvement have plenty of maps. Far fewer have written down the agreements at the handoffs the maps show. That is often why mapped, well-understood processes still produce rework: the flow is clear, but what flows across it isn’t.
The reverse matters too. A canvas without a map can miss where an interface sits in the wider flow, and which handoffs matter most to the end result. When an end-to-end value stream crosses several teams, the most useful picture is a chain of canvases, one per handoff, each with its own negotiated definition. Senior leaders work with exactly that chain in the next lesson.
Try it
A practical sequence
Click each step in turn.
Pause and think · your notes
Think of a process in your organisation that is mapped but still produces rework.
How Alex would answer
Mapped processes often produce rework because the flow is clear but what flows across it isn’t. Record the handoff on both canvases and agree a definition if it keeps causing returns.
What to take away
- A process map answers “what happens, in what order?”; the canvas answers “what do these two teams need from each other?”.
- Maps without agreements still produce rework; canvases without maps can miss which handoffs matter most.
- Map the flow, pick the important handoffs, record them on both canvases, and define what keeps causing returns.
Your progress
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