That thing that you do

I’m deep into 2e task flow documentation now. Put simply, it’s the process of breaking down every little thing you can do with Warhorn to a fine level of detail. You don’t just set up an event: you click a “set up a new event” button, enter an event name, shift your attention to date entry, decide whether your event is recurring or one-time, input that choice into Warhorn, and so on.

It’s a long and fatiguing process, but it’s a majority of the brainwork for how the site is structured. Thoroughly documenting interactions ensures that we catch the tricky questions early on in the process. For example, if you’re “cloning” a previous event (a new feature in Warhorn!), how many options does Warhorn display? Every event you’ve ever organized? Only the most recent ones? If the latter, what does “recent” mean? These are questions we want to answer right up front so we don’t get caught in the middle of coding and have to backpedal.

I find this part of the design process fascinating because it’s the first time I get to put myself in your shoes. I’m not worried about how hard it is to code, or how the pages are laid out, or even what functions go on what pages. I’m solely concerned with how you, a Warhorn player or event organizer, go about your various interactions with Warhorn. Once I’ve got those down, I can start building screens that make your interactions easy to accomplish.