Feature thinking asks: what can the user do? Workflow thinking asks: what does the user need to finish? The two questions are not interchangeable. A platform full of features can still leave its users with a long list of unfinished work.
A workflow has five parts
- A trigger — a condition that starts the work.
- Evidence — a record that supports the decision.
- Interpretation — what the evidence means in context.
- Action — the step that changes the project.
- Outcome — the closeout record that future teams can read.
A search feature is useful, but it is not a workflow on its own. A workflow built on top of search would name a trigger ("a delay claim was filed"), produce evidence ("the relevant time-aligned clips"), guide interpretation ("compare to programme baseline"), close action ("attach evidence to the claim file"), and report the outcome ("claim resolved or escalated").
Field notes are part of the public RDI reference. For shorter definitions, use the glossary. For full reference articles, see the library.