craft-swimlanelisted

# Craft Swimlane > "A flow shows what happens. A swimlane shows who it happens to, and what crosses." ## Which of the three | `craft-map` | what exists, where it lives, what each part is for | | `craft-flow` | what happens next, in what stages, where it branches | | **`craft-swimlane`** | **who acts, who decides, and what crosses between them** | **Reach for this when sequence alone hides the answer.** If the important fact is who owns a step, or what passes a boundary, a flow will not show it. ## One scenario Name the question, the start and the end. **Never the whole product.** *How does a request become a merged change?* is a scenario. *The system* is not. ## A lane is a responsibility Every lane answers the same question: **who or what does the work here?** **Responsibility is not accountability.** A system can be responsible for work. What that work means to people stays with a person, and no arrow moves it. A person, a role, a system, a plugin, an adapter. Never a file, a folder or a step. Four to six lanes. More than that, and you are drawing two scenarios. ## Time runs down Lanes sit left to right. Actions descend. Same house style as `craft-flow`. ## Every action has one home Put each action in exactly one lane. Start its label with a verb. **A decision lives where it is made**, never where its result is used. ## Every crossing says what it carries **No bare arrow.** Label what passes. ``` ──▶ a request, a work item, a decision, a delivery ╌╌▶