Flow Planning

Write a sentence that says when something happens, do something, and save it as an agreement that runs itself.

Where this lives: Tools > Flow Planning

What this is

Flow Planning is where you write a sentence that the hub keeps for you and acts on.

The sentence has two halves, and an optional third. The first half says when something happens. The second says what should happen then. The third narrows it with a condition.

Once you save it, it has a name, and it runs whenever the first half comes true.

What you see

The title reads Flow planning. Above it sits the word Tools.

Three panels sit down the page.

The conditional composer is the sentence builder. At the top of it sit a heading, a Save as Agreement button, a Clear button and an Apply button. Below those sits a box you can describe your agreement in plain English, with a Parse button beside it. Under that runs the sentence itself, as a row of small dropdowns.

The first row is marked when. It reads as: a determiner, who, does what, a determiner, with what.

The next rows are marked then, and each one after that is marked and. Each reads as: you do what, a determiner, with what, to a determiner, who. A link below them reads Add Action.

A link marked Add Condition opens one more row, marked if. It reads the same way as the when row. A cross closes it again.

Under the rows, a small canvas draws the sentence as a picture.

My agreements lists what you have saved. Each row carries a switch, the name, the sentence in words, a count of how many times it has run, and a control to delete it.

Open decisions in my groups lists the proposals and polls open in your groups, with how many votes each has and what share is in favour.

The page header carries Add widget and Reset layout. Everything else about a panel is on the panel itself.

What you can do here

• Say when something happens and what should follow. See Write the sentence.
• Narrow it so it only runs sometimes. See Add a condition.
• Keep it. See Save it as an agreement.
• Stop it running for a while. See Pause an agreement.
• Get rid of it. See Delete an agreement.

How to

Write the sentence

1. Open Flow Planning under Tools.
2. Find the row marked when.
3. Choose a determiner for who. The choices are any, my, the and that.
4. Choose who. You can name a person or a group, or choose Everyone, Any Person or Any Group.
5. Choose what they do. The verbs are grouped as Economic, CRUD, Work, Governance, Membership, Lifecycle, Social and Permissions.
6. Choose the determiner and the thing it happens to. For a thing rather than a person, the determiners add a and all.
7. Move to the row marked then and choose what you do in response.
8. Press Add Action to chain another thing after it.

Add a condition

1. Press Add Condition below the action rows.
2. A row marked if appears.
3. Fill it in the same way as the when row.
4. The agreement now runs only when that condition also holds.
5. Press the cross beside the row to drop the condition again.

Save it as an agreement

1. Fill in the when row and at least one then row.
2. Press Save as Agreement at the top of the composer.
3. Type a name in the field marked Agreement Name.
4. Press Save Agreement.
5. A note confirms it is now active, and it appears under My agreements.

Pause an agreement

1. Open Flow Planning under Tools.
2. Find the agreement under My agreements.
3. Press the switch at the left of its row.
4. It stops running. Press the switch again to start it running.

Delete an agreement

1. Open Flow Planning under Tools.
2. Find the agreement under My agreements.
3. Press the delete control at the right of its row.
4. A note confirms it is gone.

What changes for you

You must be signed in to reach Flow Planning.

An agreement belongs to whoever saved it, and it acts as that person.

Three worked examples, written as they read in the composer.

The first. When any person joins my group, I give them a badge. The when row names any person and the verb join, with the thing being your group. The then row gives a badge to that same person.

The second. When any person buys my listing, I send them Thanks. The when row names any person and the verb buy, with the thing being your listing. The then row sends Thanks to that same person.

The third, with a condition. When any person completes a job, I give them points, if that person belongs to my group. The when row names any person and the verb complete, with the thing being a job. The then row gives points to that same person. The if row checks that the person belongs to your group.

The Save as Agreement button appears only once at least one then row has a verb in it. The Clear button appears only once you have set something.

The quantity control appears only on the kinds of thing that can be counted: vouchers, Thanks, products, listings and badges.

Membership verbs act on people rather than things, so the second half of that row offers people.

The list of saved agreements is not drawn at all when you have none.

Where this connects

• Voice is where the decisions listed at the bottom of this page are answered.
• Having a say explains proposals, polls and issues.
• AI can do one thing for you now, where an agreement does a thing every time.