Flows

What are Flows?

(User) Flows represent longitudinal tracking streams for specific user journeys, feature areas, or design workflows. A flow is a hyperscoped swimlane diagram (typically derived from a Use Case) that you can evaluate repeatedly over time. The core power of flows is tracking progress - running multiple evaluations of the same flow against a consistent guideline set to measure improvements and regressions.

How Flows Work

Every flow requires:

• A defined flow - A specific user journey, feature, or workflow you want to evaluate (can be imported from a Use Case or created standalone)
• A guideline set - The rules and criteria you'll measure the flow against (mandatory - evaluations cannot run without this)
• Multiple evaluations over time - Each evaluation is a version (v1, v2, v3, etc.) of the same flow

The magic happens when you run v2, v3, and beyond on the same flow with the same guidelines—that's how you track real progress and see if your design improvements are working.

Understanding the Flows Interface

When you open Flows, you'll see:

• Flow List - All your active flows with key metrics
• Overall Score - Current evaluation score for each flow
• Trend Indicator - Shows if scores are improving or declining
• Last Evaluated - When the most recent evaluation was completed
• Version Count - How many evaluations/versions exist for this flow

Creating Your First Flow

You have two options:

Option 1: Import from Requirements

1. Define your Requirements and Use Case (optional but recommended)
2. Create a flow by importing the Use Case into Flows
3. Select your guideline set
4. The flow is now ready for evaluation

Option 2: Create Standalone

1. Click "New Flow"
2. Give your flow a descriptive name (e.g., "Checkout Process", "Dashboard UX")
3. Select your guideline set (required)
4. Save and start evaluating

Standalone flows are useful if you already have a well-defined process in your organization and don't want to remap it through Requirements.

Flow Versioning: Continue vs. Create New

When ready to evaluate after making changes:

Continue the Flow

Use this when making incremental changes to the design:

• Bug fixes
• UI tweaks
• Performance improvements
• Minor refinements

This adds a new evaluation version (v2, v3, etc.) to the existing flow, allowing you to track progress on the same swimlane.

Create a New Flow

Use this when making significant structural changes:

• Complete redesigns
• Major workflow changes
• Pivoting to a different approach

This creates a new tracking baseline while preserving the old flow's history.

Key insight: Use "Continue" most of the time—that's how you build meaningful trend data. Create new flows only when the fundamental flow/swimlane itself changes.

Viewing Flow Analytics

Once you have multiple evaluations, you can analyze:

• Current Performance - Your most recent overall score
• Historical Trends - How scores have changed from v1 → v2 → v3, etc.
• Category Comparison - Which areas improved vs declined
• Problem Areas - Consistently low-scoring categories

Best Practices

• Establish guidelines first - Set up your core guidelines before starting flows so all evaluations are measured consistently
• Name flows descriptively - Use clear names that help your team understand the swimlane/journey being evaluated
• Continue intentionally - Most of your work will be continuing flows (design iterations), not creating new ones. That's where the trend data comes from.
• Keep guidelines stable - Only update guidelines when there's a major design system change. Frequent guideline changes make it hard to compare v1 vs v2 results.
• Archive when done - When a flow is no longer relevant, archive it to keep your list clean
• One-off evaluations are okay - You can run a single evaluation for quick feedback, but flows show their value after 3+ versions