Flow Diagrams
Five maps. Four places, three connections. The whole CRM in drawings that reveal what the spec cannot show alone.
What does success look like?
Deal activation rate >60%. Every open deal touched weekly.
OUTCOME MAP: SALES CRM
══════════════════════
DESIRED OUTCOME
Deal activation rate >60% — every open deal touched weekly.
Contact lookup <5s. Pipeline visible in 10s.
│
├── Contributing Factors
│ ├── Contact CRUD live (29 contacts, search, pagination)
│ ├── Deal pipeline live (kanban, drag-drop, 4 stages)
│ ├── Venture-Deal bidirectional linking working
│ ├── Stakeholder roles with influence levels
│ └── Dashboard with monthly goals and pipeline summary
│
├── Obstacles
│ ├── Company entity missing — can't answer "everything with ABC Corp"
│ ├── Activity logging empty — timeline UI exists, 0 entries
│ ├── Calendar page 404 — cut from this appetite
│ └── Company permissions (#24) gate the company module
│
├── Success Measures (binary)
│ ├── >60% of open deals have activity this week → YES / NO
│ ├── Contact lookup under 5 seconds → YES / NO
│ ├── Pilot user creates a deal within 48 hours → YES / NO
│ └── Pipeline view loads in under 10 seconds → YES / NO
│
└── Next Actions
├── Fix company permissions #24 (unblocks company module) — 0.5d
├── Wire activity logging (timeline has 0 entries) — 2d
└── Verify contact search with 100+ contacts — 1dOutcomes defined. Where does time die in the deal cycle?
Where does time die?
Current flow efficiency: 0.4%. World-class: >25%. The gap is in wait time, not work time.
VALUE STREAM MAP: SALES CRM
══════════════════════════
[TRIGGER: New lead from conversation, referral, or inbound.]
│
▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ 1. FIND CONTACT │ C/T: 30s Wait: 0 %C&A: 40%
│ Search 3 tools │
│ (email, sheet, │
│ notebook) │
└────────┬──────────┘
│ ░░░░░░░░ (minutes to hours: context scattered)
▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ 2. LOG CONTEXT │ C/T: 5min Wait: 0.5d %C&A: 20%
│ Notes in email │
│ or nowhere │
└────────┬──────────┘
│ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░ (1-3 days: no system prompts follow-up)
▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ 3. CREATE DEAL │ C/T: 2min Wait: 3d %C&A: 30%
│ If remembered │
│ Spreadsheet row │
└────────┬──────────┘
│ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ (days: no pipeline visibility)
▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ 4. FOLLOW UP │ C/T: 15min Wait: 7d %C&A: 25%
│ Check notes │
│ If they exist │
└────────┬──────────┘
│ ░░░░░░░░░░ (weekly: reconciliation meeting)
▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ 5. REPORT │ C/T: 30min Wait: 7d %C&A: 50%
│ Weekly meeting │
│ "Where are we?" │
└────────┬──────────┘
│
▼
[OUTPUT: Deal won or lost. No record of why.]
Cycle Time: ~50 min (actual work per deal cycle)
Wait Time: ~18 days (gaps + forgotten follow-ups)
Lead Time: ~18 days
Flow Efficiency: 50min / 18 days ≈ 0.4%
World-class: >25% Good: 15-25% Typical: 5-15% CURRENT: ~0.4%
BOTTLENECKS (ranked)
════════════════════
1. Follow Up │ 7+ days │ No system, relies on memory │ Task management linked to deals
2. Report │ 7 days │ Weekly meeting to reconcile │ Pipeline kanban — always visible
3. Find Contact │ min-hours │ Context in 3+ tools │ Single contact detail with links
4. Log Context │ Skipped │ No obvious place to write │ Activity logging on deal detail
5. Create Deal │ Forgotten │ No pipeline to add it to │ One-click deal create from kanbanValue stream mapped. What must exist before what?
What depends on what?
Critical path: company permissions fix (0.5d) → activity logging (2d) → venture verify (1d) → pilot = ~4 engineering days to CRM-ready.
DEPENDENCY MAP: SALES CRM
═════════════════════════
┌──────────┐
│ START │
└─────┬─────┘
│
┌────────────────┤
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ Auth │ │ Company │
│ Working │ │ Permissions │
│ ═══ DONE │ │ ═══ HARD │
│ (unblocked) │ │ (#24) │
└──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ Contact + │ │ Company │
│ Deal CRUD │ │ Module │
│ (live) │ │ (blocked) │
└──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘
│ │
└────────┬───────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Activity │
│ Logging │
│ ─── soft │
│ (wire it) │
└──────┬───────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Venture │
│ Linking │
│ ─── soft │
│ (verify) │
└──────┬───────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ First Pilot │
│ (real team) │
└──────┬───────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Kill Test: │
│ Deals created│
│ Weekly usage │
└──────────────┘
─────── = Soft (can proceed with workarounds)
═══════ = HARD (cannot proceed without)Dependencies mapped. What capabilities exist and where are the gaps?
What can we actually do?
14 capabilities at maturity 3-5. The work is filling 4 gaps and fixing 1 blocker.
CAPABILITY MAP: SALES CRM ═════════════════════════ CAPABILITY MATURITY GAP? ────────────────────────────────── ──────── ──── CONTACTS Contact CRUD + search ████░ (4) Contact detail + linked entities ████░ (4) Contact tagging + status ████░ (4) CSV import ██░░░ (2) DEALS + PIPELINE Deal pipeline (kanban) ████░ (4) Deal detail + stakeholders ████░ (4) Dashboard + monthly goals ████░ (4) Pipeline summary ████░ (4) RELATIONSHIPS Venture-Deal bidirectional link ████░ (4) Stakeholder roles + influence ███░░ (3) Company entity █░░░░ (1) GAP Property registry █░░░░ (1) GAP PLATFORM Navigation + breadcrumbs █████ (5) Activity logging █░░░░ (1) GAP Task management █░░░░ (1) GAP Global search █░░░░ (1) Calendar ░░░░░ (0) CUT THE 14/9/5/3 SPLIT ═══════════════════ 14 capabilities live at maturity 3-5 4 gaps to fill (company, activity, tasks, property) 1 blocker to fix (permissions #24) ~4 engineering days to CRM-ready
Capabilities identified. What does the breadboard look like?
What are the four places and three connections?
The whole CRM in one drawing. No agent orchestration — humans enter data, humans read data.
BREADBOARD: SALES CRM
═════════════════════
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ CONTACT LIST │ │ DEAL PIPELINE │
│ │ │ │
│ Search │ │ Kanban board │
│ Filter by tag │ │ 4 stages │
│ Sort │ │ Drag to move │
│ Click → detail │ │ Click → detail │
└────────┬─────────┘ └────────┬─────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ CONTACT DETAIL │←───────→│ DEAL DETAIL │
│ │ │ │
│ Name, company │ │ Stage, value │
│ Tags, status │ │ Probability │
│ Linked deals │ │ Close date │
│ Linked ventures │ │ Stakeholders │
│ Activity log │ │ Linked venture │
│ │ │ Activity log │
└──────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘
Connection 1: Contact List → Contact Detail (click)
Connection 2: Deal Pipeline → Deal Detail (click)
Connection 3: Contact Detail ↔ Deal Detail (bidirectional via stakeholders)
The CRM earns trust by being faster than the spreadsheet —
not by being smarter.Questions
Which drawing reveals the most about whether this CRM will actually get used — and which gap would kill adoption fastest?
- If activity logging stays empty, does the CRM become a rolodex nobody opens after week two?
- The value stream shows 0.4% flow efficiency — is that bad enough to motivate switching from a spreadsheet?
- Company permissions gate the "show me everything with X" query — is that the CRM or just an address book without it?