Frequently asked questions

Bucket Flows is a structured user flow modelling tool that helps UX, business analysis and product teams define how digital services work. It connects user actions to system outcomes, state changes and branching paths, making complex behaviour visible before development.

Traditional user flow tools typically use free-form diagrams to show the steps users take through a product or service.

Bucket Flows takes a structured approach, connecting user actions with system outcomes and state changes. This helps teams model branching logic, exceptions and alternative paths without losing sight of how the wider flow fits together.

Bucket Flows can be used to model a wide range of digital interactions, from straightforward user journeys to complex, multi-step processes.

Examples include account registration, authentication, onboarding, form submissions and services involving validation rules, permissions, exceptions or alternative outcomes.

By modelling user actions alongside system responses and possible outcomes, Bucket Flows makes gaps, assumptions and unanswered decisions easier to identify.

Teams can use these structured flows to review alternative paths, discuss potential dead ends and resolve questions before detailed design or development. Bucket Flows supports this analysis rather than automatically making design decisions.

BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) is a standardised approach to modelling business processes, including tasks, decisions, events and handovers between different participants.

Bucket Flows takes a more focused approach to modelling how users interact with digital products and services. It connects user actions with system outcomes and state changes, helping teams understand branching logic, exceptions and alternative paths.

Bucket Flows isn't a BPMN modelling tool or a replacement for BPMN where formal business process documentation is required. The two approaches can complement each other.

Miro and FigJam are flexible collaborative whiteboards, and both can be used to create user flow diagrams. They're particularly useful for brainstorming, workshops and exploring early ideas.

The difference becomes more apparent when user flows grow in complexity.

With Miro or FigJam, you decide how to represent user actions, branching paths, system responses, outcomes, state changes and exceptions. You also need to establish your own conventions for keeping everything understandable and consistent as the flow evolves.

Bucket Flows is designed specifically for modelling complex user flows. Rather than relying on a general-purpose whiteboard, it provides a structured approach to defining actions, connecting outcomes and making the logic behind a digital service visible.

This helps UX designers, business analysts and product teams understand how a service should behave, identify gaps or overlooked scenarios, and establish a shared understanding before moving into detailed design and development.

Bucket Flows isn't intended to replace Miro or FigJam. Whiteboards are excellent for collaborative exploration. Bucket Flows gives complex product and service flows a purpose-built home when you need to move from exploring ideas to modelling behaviour in detail.

Yes. Bucket Flows and Figma can be used together throughout the design process.

Bucket Flows helps you understand the actions users take, how the system responds and which paths are possible. This can help clarify what your interface designs need to support before you start creating detailed screens in Figma.

Bucket Flows also provides reference and link fields that can be used to associate an outcome with a Figma wireframe. You can include a link to view the corresponding design in Figma's prototype mode, making it easier to move between the flow and the interface design.

Although Bucket Flows doesn't currently offer direct Figma integration or automatic synchronisation, these references help maintain a connection between the modelled behaviour and the designs that represent it.

Not currently. We believe creating user flows is fundamentally a human activity that should take place before technology development begins.

It's an opportunity for UX designers, business analysts, product teams and stakeholders to work through what a product needs to do, challenge assumptions, identify exceptions and agree on how the system should behave.

That shared understanding is one of the most valuable outcomes of creating user flows, and something that shouldn't be lost through automation.

However, we also recognise the opportunities AI provides. We plan to introduce an AI module to help with generating user flows and supporting subsequent design and development activities, building on the structured information captured within Bucket Flows.

You can follow our planned enhancements on the Bucket Flows roadmap. Features on the roadmap do not have fixed release dates.

Yes. Bucket Flows is designed to help model digital services where user actions can lead to multiple possible outcomes.

For example, submitting a form might result in a successful submission, a validation error, a permissions issue or a system failure.

You can represent these different outcomes and the actions that follow them, making it easier to explore both the successful journey and the alternative paths.

This helps teams identify missing scenarios, understand how exceptions should be handled and avoid concentrating solely on the happy path.

Actions, outcomes and state changes are central to how Bucket Flows models the behaviour of digital products and services.

An action describes something a user does, such as submitting an application.

An outcome describes what happens in response to that action. For example, an application might be submitted successfully or rejected because required information is missing.

When configuring an outcome in Bucket Flows, you can also specify any associated system impact or state change. For example, a successful submission might change an application's status from Draft to Submitted, affecting what the user can do next.

By connecting user actions to outcomes and capturing their system impacts, Bucket Flows helps teams understand how a product behaves, why different paths occur and what changes as users progress through a service.

Yes. Bucket Flows can help represent how business rules, permissions and validation affect the paths users can take through a digital product or service.

For example, an application might only be submitted when required information is complete, or an action might only be available to users with particular permissions.

You can model the possible outcomes of these conditions and show what happens next, making the underlying requirements easier to discuss and review.

Bucket Flows is a modelling tool rather than a business rules engine. It helps describe and clarify the expected behaviour, but doesn't execute business rules or enforce permissions within a live system.

Each flow in Bucket Flows is assigned a persona, giving it a clear perspective based on the user or role being modelled.

Personas can represent different types of users, such as customers, administrators or reviewers, who may have different responsibilities, permissions and objectives.

You can create personas and add them to a reusable library, making it easier to maintain consistency across the flows within a project.

Assigning a persona helps teams focus on whose actions they're modelling, particularly when different roles interact with the same digital service.

Yes. Bucket Flows allows you to export your user flows as PDF documents that can be shared with stakeholders, developers, testers and other team members.

You can export an individual flow or all the flows within a project, including the associated personas and outcomes.

PDF exports are useful for reviewing requirements, documenting decisions and supporting discussions with people who don't have access to Bucket Flows.

We're also planning to introduce commenting and sharing functionality directly within Bucket Flows. This will make it easier for teams to review flows, provide feedback and collaborate without relying solely on exported documents.

You can follow these planned enhancements on the Bucket Flows roadmap. Features on the roadmap do not have confirmed release dates.

Yes. A project in Bucket Flows can contain multiple user flows, allowing you to break a complex digital service into smaller, more manageable areas.

For example, a project might include separate flows for registration, authentication, account management and submitting an application.

Flows within the same project can reference a shared library of outcomes, helping maintain consistency when the same system behaviour appears in different flows.

You can also view individual flows or all the flows within a project together, making it easier to understand both the detail and the wider service.

Bucket Flows is designed primarily for laptops and desktop computers, where there is enough screen space to create, explore and review complex user flows.

We recommend using a browser window at least 900 pixels wide for the best experience.

Although you may be able to access Bucket Flows on smaller devices, the flow modelling workspace isn't currently optimised for narrow tablet or mobile screens.

A warning is displayed when the browser window is too narrow, helping you understand when a larger screen is recommended.

Yes. User flows can provide a useful connection between understanding requirements, designing interactions, developing functionality and testing how a product behaves.

Bucket Flows helps teams document user actions, system outcomes, branching decisions and state changes in a structured way.

Business analysts can use this information to clarify requirements and identify missing scenarios. Designers can use it to understand the interactions and states their interfaces need to support. Developers and testers can use the flows to understand expected behaviour, including alternative paths and failure conditions.

Bucket Flows doesn't automatically generate requirements or test cases, but the flows can provide a shared reference throughout the delivery process.

Yes. You can cancel your subscription at any time through the Billing Portal. You'll retain access to Bucket Flows until the end of your current paid billing period. Your subscription will not renew after that date.

Yes. You can switch between monthly and annual subscriptions through the Billing Portal. Your new subscription will take effect at the end of your current billing period, so you'll continue on your existing plan until then.

When your subscription expires, you'll lose access to your projects in Bucket Flows. However, your project data will be retained for three months, giving you time to resubscribe and regain access to your existing work.

Bucket Flows accepts major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Eligible customers can also pay using Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link. All subscription payments are processed securely by Stripe.

Yes. Both monthly and annual subscriptions include the same Bucket Flows features. The only differences are the billing frequency and price. Choosing an annual subscription saves you the equivalent of two months compared with paying monthly.

Bucket Flows does not currently offer a free plan or free trial.

To use Bucket Flows, you'll need to choose either a monthly or annual subscription. Both subscriptions include the same features, with annual billing offering a saving compared with paying monthly.

You can view the available subscriptions and pricing on our Pricing page.

Bucket Flows currently offers individual monthly and annual subscriptions. Each team member can sign up for their own subscription.

We're planning to introduce organisation licensing soon to make it easier for teams to subscribe and manage multiple users.