.. title: Panta rhei 
.. slug: panta-rhei
.. date: 2017-03-06 14:51:29 UTC
.. tags: 
.. category: 
.. link: 
.. description: 
.. type: text

.. epigraph::

   *Πάντα ῥεῖ*

   -- Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος  [1]_

Flowcharts are magic. They reveal cause and effect relationships much better than words can.   

.. TEASER_END

There are many ways to chart the flows of a complex process, such as the described in our :doc:`earlier <setting-the-scene>` post. As good as the plain text is describing the world around us, pictures are much better suited in certain situations, not to mention that using text requires a considerable literary skill, and we confess: we aren't the bards. We aren't a painterly lot, either, if anyone wonders, but we shall try and save a thousand words.

Having agreed on the mode of presenting, we need to choose our tools. Here are some choices:

* Basic flow chart
* Cross Functional Flowchart
* Work Flow Diagram
* `Unified Modeling Language - UML <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language>`__
* `Integration DEFinition - IDEF <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEF>`__
* `Business Process Model and Notation - BPMN <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation>`__
* `Fault Tree Analysis Diagram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_tree_analysis>`__
* `ITIL Diagram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITIL>`__
* `Microsoft SharePoint Workflow <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SharePoint>`__
* `SDL Diagram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_and_Description_Language>`__
* `Six Sigma Diagram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma>`__
* `TQM Diagram <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_quality_management>`__
* `Value Stream Map <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_stream_mapping>`_

Let's ponder this list for a while. In the next post, we shall make our choice.


.. [1] Heraclitus, `Everything flows <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus#Panta_rhei.2C_.22everything_flows.22>`_