BoardSnap is an iOS app that reads a process flow whiteboard — sequential steps, inputs, outputs, and decision branches — and produces a numbered step-by-step process description in seconds.
Process flows are the backbone of operational documentation. They describe how a thing gets done — the sequence of steps, the inputs required, the outputs produced, and the decisions made along the way. Every team has processes. Almost none of them are documented.
The barrier to documentation isn't knowledge — it's effort. A process flow drawn on a whiteboard in ten minutes would take an hour to write up in a doc from scratch. So it doesn't get written. And when the person who knows the process leaves, or when the process needs to change, the team is starting from memory or from scratch.
Process flows are also the first step in process improvement. You can't improve what you haven't mapped. Drawing a process on a whiteboard, even roughly, reveals steps that are missing, steps that are redundant, and handoff points where things regularly go wrong. The whiteboard is the diagnostic tool. The documentation is the artifact.
At the top of the board: process name ('Monthly Invoice Generation') and the triggering event ('End of month, billing period closes'). A process that starts for no clear reason is a process that runs inconsistently.
On the left side, draw a parallelogram (input shape) and write what the process needs to start: data, documents, approvals, a specific state. Inputs define the process's dependencies. An undefined input is a dependency that will surprise someone.
Number each step 1, 2, 3... Connect them with arrows. Write the action in each box: 'Pull data from CRM,' 'Generate invoice template,' 'Send to client.' Keep each step to one action — if a step has two verbs, split it into two steps.
When the process splits based on a condition, draw a diamond with the condition question. Branch arrows lead to different steps depending on the answer. Label each branch: 'Yes / No,' 'Approved / Rejected,' 'Client responds / Client doesn't respond in 3 days.'
Process outputs go in a parallelogram on the right: 'Paid invoice,' 'Approved purchase order,' 'Published article.' The output defines what success looks like. If the process doesn't produce a clear output, it's not a complete process.
If you know where the process regularly slows down or fails, mark those steps with a red marker or an asterisk. Pain points are improvement opportunities. Writing them on the diagram as you draw prevents the common mistake of producing a process doc that describes the ideal rather than the actual.
Open BoardSnap. The process flow has a trigger, numbered steps, decision diamonds, and output shapes. BoardSnap AI reads the numbered sequence, decision branches, and input/output shapes.
A numbered process description: trigger event, inputs, numbered steps in sequence with decision branches described as conditionals, and the output produced. Flagged bottlenecks are included as improvement notes. The output is the first draft of an SOP (standard operating procedure) or a wiki process page.
The sales team drew the lead qualification process on a whiteboard to onboard a new hire. Eight steps, two decision points. BoardSnap produced the process doc. The new hire read it before their first call. The team realized during the diagram session that step four (manual CRM entry) was redundant — it was already automated by their integration. The diagram caught it; the doc documented the improved process.
The engineering team documented the code review process after a merge conflict incident. Six steps, one decision point ('Are all tests passing?'). BoardSnap produced the process doc, which became the onboarding documentation for new engineers. Two months later, when the process changed, the team updated the whiteboard, snapped it, and replaced the old board in the same project.
A process flow describes a single sequence of steps — usually simpler and without actor swim lanes. A workflow diagram includes swim lanes that show which actor performs each step, and often maps more complex cross-team handoffs. Use a process flow for a single team's or person's process; use a workflow diagram when multiple teams are involved.
Either works. Horizontal (left to right) is more common and mirrors the way we read — good for linear processes. Vertical (top to bottom) can be useful when you're emphasizing a sequence with many decision branches. BoardSnap reads both orientations.
One action per box. If you're writing 'open the file, check the values, and save the result' in one box, split it into three. Granularity depends on the audience: a process doc for a new hire needs more detail than one for an experienced team member. The whiteboard version can be high-level — use the AI chat to ask BoardSnap to expand specific steps into sub-steps.
Snap the board, ship the action items in ten seconds.