The origins of the modern-day workflow diagram can be traced back to the late 1880s, and the first time the term “workflow” was presented was in a railway engineering journal in 1921. The so-called founding fathers of workflow diagram, Frederick Winslow Taylor, a leading proponent of what’s known as scientific management, and mechanical engineer and management consultant Henry Gantt, are credited with being among the first to study the rational organization of labor—particularly in the manufacturing industry. As the workplace grew more technologically sophisticated, with the advent of the copier and the typewriter, the ability to further explore and spread knowledge of the workflow system also expanded.
