TextTree

What is a flowchart?

A flowchart is one of the most basic diagramming techniques: it maps out a sequence of steps and decisions using nothing but boxes and arrows.

• Write “what happens next” in one box at a time
• Branch the arrows wherever there’s a decision point
• Anyone can reproduce the same procedure just by following the arrows to the end

Explaining a procedure in prose gets confusing fast once branching enters the picture. A flowchart’s strength is that you can just follow the arrows to trace the flow.

Where this works well

• When you want a branching procedure to produce the same result no matter who follows it
• When you want a manual or handoff document that leaves no gaps in judgment criteria or steps
• When you want to put a decision rule that usually lives only in one person’s head into words the whole team can share

How to build it in ThinkTray

Step 1: Place the first step as a card

Use the Card tool (R) to place a card for the starting point of the procedure.

• Writing it as a verb phrase (“do the thing”) makes the action clear
• Example: “Receive the inquiry”

Step 2: Create a decision point

Write points where a judgment call is needed as a question.

• Changing the color makes it obvious at a glance that this is a decision point
• Example: “Is it urgent?”

Step 3: Connect branches with lines

Use the Line tool (L) to draw multiple arrows out of the decision card.

• To show what each arrow’s outcome means, double-click the arrow to add a mini-card and label it with the branch’s meaning
• Mini-cards can be dragged to fine-tune their position
• Example: “Yes” / “No”

Step 4: Bring the branches back together

Merging the branched flows into one final result near the end makes the whole picture easier to grasp.

• Example: whether it went through immediate response or the regular queue, both paths converge on “Log that it’s resolved”

The demo above is an inquiry-handling decision flow built with this process — a common business flow that routes responses based on urgency.

If you need JIS-standard symbols

Flowchart symbols (a diamond for decisions, a rounded rectangle for terminators, and so on) are defined by the JIS standard, but ThinkTray isn’t a dedicated workflow tool, so it doesn’t ship with every shape built in.

Instead, prepare the symbols you need as SVG ahead of time in one file, then copy and paste them in whenever you need them.

Open the SVG Elements.tt.svg file prepared in the same folder in a separate window (↗️ pop-out), and you can copy the shapes you need straight into the diagram you’re working on.

Tips

• Write steps as verbs, decisions as questions — Just keeping “do the thing” and “is X true?” distinct makes the diagram much easier to read.
• Spell out what each arrow means with a mini-card — Skip the “yes/no” labels and you’ll lose track of which way to go when you look back later.
• Keep it simple by merging branches back together — Don’t let branches multiply forever; bring them back to a single flow at key points to keep the whole thing graspable.
• Put the details in text — The diagram is a “map of the flow.” Write the finer judgment criteria and exceptions in a .txt file in the same folder.

Flowcharts are said to trace back to the “process flowchart” that Frank Gilbreth presented at ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) in 1921. Wikipedia