Flow Survey

Flows manifest in systems in all sorts of ways. Here are some things that can flow:

• wind — a gentil breeze or a fierce hurricane;
• running water — streams, rivers, flooding;
• sand — shifting dunes or mudslides;
• oil/fuel — routes of oil tankers, within refineries, distribution across fueling stations;
• electrons — within an electrical circuit, arcing across wires;
• people — on the streets of a city, in a house doing their daily routine or shopping routes in a supermarket;
• traffic — traffic jams, commuters, commercial transports;
• animals — while migrating, foraging or hunting;
• information — feedback, feed forward, key nodes;
• money — income, expenses, assets, liabilities.

Survey a flow in your system by asking the following questions:

• Where does it come from?
• What brings it with?
• What is the effect on my system?
• Where does it leave?
• What takes it with?

See bookkeeping as an example for exactly this type of survey. I have also written about how I track flows. Or look in my design of a summer party at the section flow of visitors.