Here's the fun part. This step is where you learn how things REALLY work. When you have the stakeholder (or better yet, the stakeholders) start mapping the process. You can start by saying, "Folks, tell me the first thing that happens." You will also hear yourself ask several times, "OK, what happens next?"

There are several best practices:

• Understand what you're analyzing. Are you mapping an "as-is" map or a "future state" map? Be careful when making the "As-is": Many will try to tell you what's supposed to happen instead of how things really are.
• Ideally, you'll get all the people together when you make the first draft of the map. However, it's not always possible to do so.
• To get started, use Process Blocks, Decision Blocks and Subprocesses. As you get more experience, you can add more shapes and tools. At first, don't get too bogged down into the details. Do that on a second or third pass, and make use of subprocesses.
• You might choose to number the steps, especially when you have a more complex map with many comments.