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Workflow Selection Guide

FCC provides three workflow graphs with increasing persona counts and governance depth. This guide helps you choose the right one for your project.

The Three Workflow Graphs

Base Workflow (5 Nodes)

File: data/workflows/base_sequence.json

The Base workflow includes only the five core personas and covers the essential Find-Create-Critique cycle.

Personas: RC, BC, DE, RB, UG

graph LR
    RC[Research Crafter] -->|research_inventory| BC[Blueprint Crafter]
    BC -->|blueprints_specs| DE[Documentation Evangelist]
    DE -->|publish_handoff| RB[Runbook Crafter]
    DE -->|publish_handoff| UG[User Guide Crafter]
    DE -->|standards_edits| BC
    RB -->|operational_feedback| BC
    RB -->|operational_findings| RC
    UG -->|usability_feedback| BC
    UG -->|user_feedback| RC

Edges: 11 (7 handoffs, 4 feedback)

Best for:

  • Small teams (1-3 people)
  • Quick documentation drafts
  • Proof-of-concept or prototyping
  • Projects with minimal governance requirements

Limitations: No integration specialists, no governance personas, no champion orchestration.

Extended Workflow (20 Nodes)

File: data/workflows/extended_sequence.json

The Extended workflow adds integration specialists, governance personas, and stakeholder personas to the base cycle. This is the most commonly used workflow for production documentation.

Personas: All core + integration + governance + stakeholder (20 total)

Edges: 40 (35 handoffs, 5 feedback)

Best for:

  • Mid-size teams (3-6 people)
  • Comprehensive documentation projects
  • Projects requiring compliance validation
  • Multi-audience content (technical, executive, end-user)

Additions over Base:

Category Personas Added Capability
Integration CIA, UMC, STE, TS, BV, RIC, GCA Indexing, mockups, taxonomy, traceability, validation
Governance DGS, PTE, AMS Data governance, privacy, fact-checking
Stakeholder CO, SMC, EC, RS, SCP Coordination, metrics, executive comms, publishing

Complete Workflow (24 Nodes)

File: data/workflows/complete_24.json

The Complete workflow adds four Champion personas that orchestrate teams of base personas. Champions provide elevated coordination for complex, multi-team projects.

Personas: All 24 personas including RCHM, BCHM, UGCH, RBCH

Edges: 52 (48 handoffs, 4 feedback)

Best for:

  • Large teams (6+ people)
  • Enterprise documentation programs
  • Multi-project deployments requiring centralized governance
  • Projects with strict regulatory compliance requirements

Champion orchestration chains:

Champion Orchestrates Purpose
RCHM (Research Champion) RC, CIA, STE, RIC Unified research packages
BCHM (Blueprint Champion) BC, BV, UMC, RIC Integrated blueprint packages
UGCH (User Guide Champion) UG, SCP, EC Multi-channel publishing
RBCH (Runbook Champion) RB, GCA, TS Compliance-validated operations

Decision Table

Factor Base (5) Extended (20) Complete (24)
Setup time Minutes Hours Days
Personas to configure 5 20 24
Quality gates 6 22 25
Governance depth Minimal Standard Full
Compliance support No Yes Yes + orchestration
Multi-audience No Yes Yes + champions
Feedback loops 4 edges 5 edges 4 edges + orchestration
Simulation complexity Low Medium High
Typical team size 1-3 3-6 6+

Starting Small and Scaling Up

A common pattern is to start with the Base workflow and progressively adopt more personas:

  1. Sprint 1-2: Base (5-node) -- learn the FCC cycle with core personas
  2. Sprint 3-4: Add integration personas (CIA, BV, TS) for quality and traceability
  3. Sprint 5-6: Add governance personas (DGS, PTE, AMS) for compliance
  4. Sprint 7+: Add champions for multi-team orchestration

The PersonaRegistry.merge() method supports combining registries, so you can load only the persona YAML files relevant to your current workflow.

Workflow Traversal

All three workflows support two traversal modes:

  • BFS traversal (WorkflowGraph.bfs_from(start_id)): Follow all edges from a starting node, useful for simulation
  • Topological order (WorkflowGraph.topological_order()): Process nodes in dependency order, ignoring feedback edges

See the First Workflow tutorial for code examples.

Next Steps