Unknown & abstracted flow
What we don't know yet, and what we have chosen not to show.Two different absences, drawn differently on purpose. Unknown is a gap in understanding — it must look unfinished and must be assignable to someone. Abstracted is a gap we chose — detail exists and is folded away, so it must look solid and expandable. Never draw one like the other.
A · Unknown span
Change request submitted 2
EVENT · E-002 MK
How does the vendor appear in ERP? Ask procurement.
Create vendor record
COMMAND · C-015 MK
A hatched, dashed span between two known events. It carries an owner and a question, counts in the review queue, and cannot be closed by deleting it — only by filling it.
B · Unverified sticky
Finance re-checks the budget
EVENT · E-023 MK
Re-run credit check
COMMAND · C-024 MK
dashed border 72% opacity · ASSUMED suffix
Someone's guess, kept on the board rather than argued about. Same hue and geometry, dashed border and reduced opacity; confirming it removes both marks in one click.
C · Collapsed region
Request accepted for assessment
PIVOTAL · E-004 MK
Risk & Compliance 1
Change approved by CAB
PIVOTAL · E-012 MK
Solid, filled, and counted — the one place a grey fill is allowed, because it stands for stickies rather than pretending to be one. Arrows crossing the boundary dock to its edge; open items stay visible.
D · Detail ladder
Phase 1 · Intake 4
Phase 2 · Assessment 8
Phase 3 · Execution 6
Phase 4 · Closure 4
Timeline aggregates · commands · events · policies
Intake & Triage ·1/2
Intake & Triage ·2/2
Risk & Compliance ·1/2
Risk & Compliance ·2/2
Finance
Scheduling
Vendor Master Data
Change Execution
Nothing connects the CAB decision to Scheduling.
Change Request
AGGREGATE · G-001 MK
Risk Assessment
AGGREGATE · G-002 MK
Change Window
AGGREGATE · G-003 MK
Vendor
AGGREGATE · G-004 MK
Requesting manager
ACTOR · A-001 MK
Service desk
ACTOR · A-002 MK
Risk analyst
ACTOR · A-003 MK
Finance partner
ACTOR · A-004 MK
CAB chair
ACTOR · A-005 MK
Change manager
ACTOR · A-006 MK
MDM steward
ACTOR · A-007 MK
Platform engineer
ACTOR · A-008 MK
Submit change request
COMMAND · C-001 MK
Change request submitted 2
EVENT · E-002 MK
Triage request
COMMAND · C-003 MK
Request accepted for assessment
PIVOTAL · E-004 MK
Assess vendor risk
COMMAND · C-005 MK
Risk rating assigned
EVENT · E-006 MK
Request security review
COMMAND · C-007 MK
Security review passed
EVENT · E-008 MK
Reserve budget
COMMAND · C-009 MK
Budget reserved
EVENT · E-010 MK
Approve change 2
COMMAND · C-011 MK
Change approved by CAB
PIVOTAL · E-012 MK
Schedule change window
COMMAND · C-013 MK
Window scheduled
EVENT · E-014 MK
Create vendor record
COMMAND · C-015 MK
Vendor record created
EVENT · E-016 MK
Implement change
COMMAND · C-017 MK
Change implemented in production
PIVOTAL · E-018 MK
Activate vendor
COMMAND · C-019 MK
Vendor activated in master data
EVENT · E-020 MK
Close change request
COMMAND · C-021 MK
Change request closed
EVENT · E-022 MK
Whenever a request is submitted, assign a triage owner
POLICY · P-001 MK
Whenever risk is rated high, route to CAB
POLICY · P-002 MK
Whenever a window is set, freeze conflicting changes
POLICY · P-003 MK
Whenever verification fails, reopen the request
POLICY · P-004 MK
Finance re-checks the budget
EVENT · E-023 MK
Re-run credit check
COMMAND · C-024 MK
Emergency change routed as a standard change
EVENT · E-025 MK
Systems & data external systems · read models
ServiceNow
EXTERNAL · X-001 MK
Triage queue
READ MODEL · R-01 MK
Archer GRC
EXTERNAL · X-002 MK
SAP · budget
EXTERNAL · X-003 MK
Risk register
READ MODEL · R-02 MK
CAB agenda
READ MODEL · R-03 MK
SAP MDG
EXTERNAL · X-004 MK
Jira Service Mgmt
EXTERNAL · X-005 MK
Freeze calendar
READ MODEL · R-04 MK
Vendor master
READ MODEL · R-05 MK
Audit trail
READ MODEL · R-06 MK
Friction free zone — hotspots, questions, opportunities
How does the vendor appear in ERP? Ask procurement.
Two intake channels, one SLA clock
HOTSPOT · H-01 MK
Who triages on holidays?
OPEN QUESTION · Q-001 MK
Risk rating redone by hand after each scope change
HOTSPOT · H-02 MK
Auto-approve low-risk vendors
OPPORTUNITY · O-001 MK
Does finance re-check the budget after CAB?
OPEN QUESTION · Q-002 MK
Windows collide with month-end close
HOTSPOT · H-03 MK
Stop re-keying vendor data into MDG
OPPORTUNITY · O-002 MK
Who confirms the vendor is paid on time?
OPEN QUESTION · Q-003 MK
IF RISK IS HIGH IF VERIFICATION FAILS
the ladder drives the shipped Board: below a rung an element does not exist, rather than being hidden
- Absence is content Unknown spans, assumed stickies and open questions all carry an owner and a date. A board with no unknowns on it early is a board nobody has been honest with yet.
- Collapse is a view, not an edit Collapsing a region changes nobody else's board and never loses a connector; it is remembered per person, per visit.
- Hatching means "not real yet" Reserved for unknown spans and drop targets. Nothing solid is ever hatched, so hatching always reads the same way.