Glossary/The FLOW classification

FLOW C: Strategically Complex

Meaningful stakes with real uncertainty. The situation could unfold in multiple directions and the implications are hard to pin down.

The definition the product enforces, read from the same code the methodology page renders.

How to read it

When FLOW C: Strategically Complex appears on a page

Real uncertainty at a scale the party can absorb. This is the class where the discipline says establish meaning before acting. Watch for growth: FLOW C cannot exist at large scale, and a C that grows becomes a D with the opposite prescription.

The family

The FLOW classification

The weight of the decision an event forces on a party: two axes, five classes, three rules. A classification is displayed only where the scan earns it.

FLOW A: Routine & ContainedSmall stakes, easy to understand. The connection is straightforward with limited wider impact.FLOW B: Significant but ClearMeaningful stakes, but the situation is well understood. The implications are evident.FLOW D: Large Scale & SignificantVery high stakes. The scale of what is involved makes this one of the most important connections in the analysis, regardless of how simple or complex it is.FLOW S: Extraordinary — No PrecedentUnprecedented. There is no clear historical comparison — this changes the rules, not just the situation.ScaleOrganizational weight: the dollars, the authority and the stakeholders a connection touches. Not headcount. One of the two FLOW axes.ComplexityThe difficulty of the correct decision and action, across three co-equal dimensions: interpretive ambiguity, analytical depth and execution difficulty. The other FLOW axis.The three rulesFLOW C cannot exist at large scale: When organizational weight grows to large scale, FLOW C reclassifies to FLOW D immediately. The prescription to establish meaning before acting does not survive scale escalation. Scale alone drives FLOW D: Large organizational weight means FLOW D regardless of complexity. A simple, well-understood situation that requires enterprise-scale response is FLOW D, not FLOW A. When debating D vs S — use D: FLOW A and B differ only in scale (both low complexity). FLOW S requires extraordinary conditions that fall entirely outside normal organizational playbooks — max 1-2 per analysis.

Where you will see it

On these pages

Kinds of research that print it

Event →Scenario →Entity →Compare →

Surfaces

Every intersection card

The FLOW badge on a research page

The rubric

The whole grading vocabulary, on one page

Every grade here is assigned by the same rules on every scan, and the methodology page renders those rules from the code that enforces them.

How the grades work →The whole glossary