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The FLOW Method

Process → Step → User Story → Acceptance Criteria.

The framework that decomposes any business workflow into something a no-code system can be built around. Specific enough that one example explains the whole offer.

In our portal

How it looks when we’re scoping your work.

Same Process → Step → User Story → Acceptance Criteria, all the way down. This is the system we run our own business on. The same one we use to scope yours.

▼Discovery
Release▾
Process↑Name
▼1Client Onboarding
Step↑Name
▼1Send Welcome Packet
StoriesPersonasDevelopment
HoursDeveloperAcceptance CriteriaRelease
An Admin wants to send a welcome packet to a new clientAdmin3.50M. OatesAn Admin from a ‘Send Welcome Packet’ button I can trigger the send, and the system will:Email the welcome packet PDF to the clientCreate a record in the Communications logUpdate the client’s onboarding status to ‘Packet Sent’Release 1 · 12 hrs
Add story

The canonical template

Every story shapes into the same sentence.

Acceptance Criteria has one canonical structure. Every story we write at FLOW — and every story you’ll write with us during Discovery — slots into it.

Acceptance Criteria — canonical template

“A [Persona] from a ‘[Interface Name]’ [interface/form] I can [action], and the system will:
  • •[system output 1]
  • •[system output 2]
  • •[system output 3]
”

Worked example

One story from a real recent build.

Real story · Real build

“A Buyer from a ‘Third Party Buy Submission’ form I can enter product details and upload images, and the system will:”
  • Create a new record in the Third Party Buys table
  • Attach uploaded images to the record
  • Store proposed cost, buy depth, delivery date, and brand
  • Mark the record as internal-only until approved

Most consultancies talk about methodology in abstract diagrams. Ours is specific enough that this single example explains the whole offer.

Tool philosophy

Airtable is our system of record. Beyond that, we use any tool that exposes a real API.

Softr, Noloco, Make, Zapier, Fillout, and others — composed to fit the workflow rather than the workflow forced to fit one tool.

We don’t sell software. We sell the system you actually need.

Have a workflow worth scoping?

30 minutes with Matt. Methodology walkthrough on a real workflow. Honest fit check.

Book a free scoping call →