Blog · October 14, 2026 · 7 min read

Ask your AI to draw the process, not describe it

#The situation

You're away for two weeks, and someone else is covering a job only you really know. Refunds, supplier orders, the monthly close, the release checklist: the process lives in your head, a few saved replies, and a note that reads like a shopping list.

So you write it up the night before you leave. It comes out as six paragraphs of if this, then that, unless the other. Your colleague reads it once, nods, and on the first odd case scrolls up and down trying to find which unless applies.

A process with branches is easier to follow as a drawing. You probably won't draw one, because drawing tools are slow and the drawing goes stale the moment the process changes. An AI assistant will draw it, as text: a Mermaid diagram, a few lines of plain words that a viewer turns into boxes and arrows. It sits in the same file as the steps, and the AI can redraw it whenever the process changes.

#Ask the AI

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant, and replace the notes at the end with your own. They can be as messy as ours.

I'm handing over a process to a colleague while I'm away for two weeks. Below are my rough notes on how it works. Turn them into a handover document they can follow without me.

Write it as one Markdown file named <process>-handover.md. Reply with the filename on the first line, then the whole file inside a four-backtick fence (````) so the diagram blocks inside it survive copying. Nothing else.

The file:
- Starts with frontmatter: title, owner (me), covering (them), valid_from, valid_until, status: active.
- Then a # heading and three sentences: what the process is for, how often it comes up, and the one thing that must never go wrong.
- "## The flow": a Mermaid flowchart (```mermaid, flowchart TD) of every decision in my notes. Decisions as diamonds, a label on every arrow out of a diamond, 10 to 16 nodes. Keep box labels short (put the detail in the steps, not the boxes) and use plain words: no parentheses, quotes or slashes inside labels, they break Mermaid.
- "## Who talks to whom": a Mermaid sequenceDiagram for the path with the most hand-offs.
- "## Step by step": numbered steps that match the boxes in the flowchart, in the same words, with where to click and what to write.
- "## When to stop and ask": a > [!warning] callout listing the cases that need someone else's decision, and whose.
- "## Contacts": a table.
- End with "## Gaps in my notes": anything my notes don't answer. Don't invent an answer to fill a gap; write it down as a question for me.

My notes:
refunds for the shop - me (Marta) normally, Tomás covering 13-24 Oct.
customer emails support@ or uses the form, lands in Helpdesk, tag it "refund".
first check the order in Shopify. if it's older than 30 days -> not eligible normally, reply with the saved reply "outside window" BUT if it's damaged/wrong item, always ok regardless of date.
under 30 days and not shipped yet -> just cancel the order in shopify, refunds automatically. done.
already shipped -> they need to send it back. send the "return label" saved reply, label comes from Sendcloud (Returns tab, create return, it emails them). wait for it to arrive at the warehouse, Joana at the warehouse checks it and marks it in the shared sheet "Returns 2026" col F = OK or DAMAGED BY CUSTOMER.
if OK -> refund in shopify (Refund button on the order, untick restock if Joana says it can't be resold). if damaged by customer -> partial refund, I usually do 50%, but anything over 150 EUR ask Daniel first.
damaged/wrong item on arrival -> ask for a photo. no return needed, refund straight away or send a replacement, customer chooses. replacement = new order in shopify at 0 EUR with tag REPLACEMENT.
paypal orders: refund in shopify works but sometimes fails if the paypal payment is older than 180 days, then do it in paypal directly - Daniel has the login.
chargebacks: don't touch, forward to Daniel.
always reply to the customer when the refund is done, saved reply "refund sent". tag ticket "refund-done" and close.
Daniel = owner, daniel@shop, Joana warehouse joana@shop / ext 214. Sendcloud support if label breaks.

Four lines in it do most of the work.

"Keep box labels short… no parentheses, quotes or slashes." This is the line that makes the diagram render at all. Mermaid reads ( and " inside a label as syntax, and one stray (PayPal) in a box is enough to stop the whole diagram from drawing. Short labels also keep the drawing readable: the detail goes in the steps, and the box only has to say which step you're on.

"Numbered steps that match the boxes, in the same words." The diagram is the map, and the steps are the directions. When the box says Joana verdict? and step 11 starts with Joana verdict?, your colleague moves between the two without translating.

"Gaps in my notes." Notes written by the person who knows the process skip whatever is obvious to them. Without this line, the AI fills each hole with something plausible, and your colleague can't tell your rule from its guess. With it, the holes come back as questions you can answer before you leave.

The four-backtick fence. The file contains its own ``` blocks, for the diagrams. Wrapped in a normal three-backtick fence, the first diagram closes the wrapper early, and the copy button gives you half a file. Four backticks keep the file in one piece.

#What comes back

We gave this prompt and these notes to Claude, with no other context. The reply was the filename, refunds-handover.md, and the file below. It's shortened for the page: steps 4 to 9 and 14 to 15, two rows of the contacts table, one sentence of the intro and 11 of the 15 gaps are cut, and long lines are wrapped. The rest is as it came back.

---
title: Shop refunds handover
owner: Marta
covering: Tomás
valid_from: 2026-10-13
valid_until: 2026-10-24
status: active
---

# Shop refunds handover

This process handles customer refund requests for the shop, from the first
email or form message to the closed Helpdesk ticket. The one thing that must
never go wrong is not named in my notes, so until Marta confirms, treat the
strongest "never" in them as the rule: never touch a chargeback yourself,
always forward it to Daniel.

## The flow

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    B{Chargeback?}
    B -->|Yes| C[Daniel takes over]
    B -->|No| D{Damaged or wrong item?}
    D -->|Yes and photo asked| F{Customer chooses?}
    D -->|No| H{Over 30 days?}
    F -->|Refund| O[Refund in Shopify]
    F -->|Replacement| G[Replacement order]
    G --> R[Reply and close]
    H -->|Yes| I[Send outside window reply]
    H -->|No| J{Shipped?}
    J -->|Not shipped| K[Cancel order]
    J -->|Shipped| L[Send return label]
    K --> R
    L -->|Parcel reaches warehouse| M{Joana verdict?}
    M -->|OK| O
    M -->|Damaged by customer| N{Over 150 EUR?}
    N -->|Yes| C
    N -->|No| O
    O --> P{Refund went through?}
    P -->|Yes| R
    P -->|No| Q[Ask Daniel for PayPal refund]
    Q --> R
```

## Who talks to whom

This is the longest path: the order was shipped, the customer returns it,
and Joana finds it damaged by the customer.

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant Cu as Customer
    participant T as Tomás
    participant S as Sendcloud
    participant J as Joana
    participant D as Daniel
    participant Sh as Shopify
    Cu->>T: Refund request by email or form
    T->>Sh: Check the order, already shipped
    T->>S: Create return in the Returns tab
    S->>Cu: Emails the return label
    Cu->>J: Sends the parcel back
    J->>T: Marks col F in Returns 2026 as DAMAGED BY CUSTOMER
    T->>D: Asks first if the refund is over 150 EUR
    D->>T: Decides the amount
    T->>Sh: Partial refund
    Sh->>Cu: Money back
    T->>D: Asks for a PayPal refund if Shopify fails
    T->>Cu: Reply with the refund sent saved reply
```

## Step by step

Before step 1: open the ticket in Helpdesk, make sure it has the tag
`refund` (add it if not), then open the customer's order in Shopify and note
the order date and whether it has shipped.

1. **Chargeback?** If the customer or the payment provider mentions a
   chargeback or dispute, go to step 2. Otherwise go to step 3.
2. **Daniel takes over.** Do not touch the order or the payment. Forward the
   ticket to daniel@shop and tell him what you know. Stop here.
3. **Damaged or wrong item?** If the customer says the item arrived damaged
   or is the wrong item, reply asking for a photo, then go to step 4. This
   applies whatever the order date is. If not, go to step 6.

…

10. **Send return label.** In Sendcloud, open the Returns tab, click create
    return and enter the customer's details. Sendcloud emails the label to
    them. Also send the saved reply "return label" in Helpdesk. Then wait for
    the parcel to reach the warehouse. If the label breaks, contact Sendcloud
    support.
11. **Joana verdict?** Joana checks the parcel and writes OK or DAMAGED BY
    CUSTOMER in column F of the shared sheet "Returns 2026". OK: go to step
    13. DAMAGED BY CUSTOMER: go to step 12.
12. **Over 150 EUR?** Marta usually refunds 50% of the order value as a
    partial refund. If that refund would be over 150 EUR, ask Daniel first
    and wait for his answer (step 2 style hand-off), then go to step 13 with the amount he gives. If
    not over 150 EUR, go to step 13 with the partial amount.
13. **Refund in Shopify.** Open the order and click the Refund button. Enter
    the full or partial amount. Untick restock if Joana says the item can't
    be resold.

…

16. **Reply and close.** Once the refund is done, send the saved reply
    "refund sent" in Helpdesk, add the tag `refund-done` and close the
    ticket.

## When to stop and ask

> [!warning]
> Stop and get someone else's decision in these cases:
> - **Any chargeback:** do not touch it, forward to Daniel (daniel@shop).
> - **A partial refund over 150 EUR** after Joana marks DAMAGED BY CUSTOMER:
>   ask Daniel before refunding.
> - **A PayPal refund that fails in Shopify** (payment older than 180 days):
>   Daniel has the PayPal login and does it in PayPal.
> - **A Sendcloud label that breaks:** contact Sendcloud support.
> - **Anything not covered here:** ask Daniel, as the owner.

## Contacts

| Who | Role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel | Owner. Decides on chargebacks, refunds over 150 EUR, and PayPal refunds | daniel@shop |
| Joana | Warehouse. Checks returns and fills column F in "Returns 2026" | joana@shop, ext 214 |
| Sendcloud support | Help if a return label breaks | Not in my notes |

## Gaps in my notes

- What is the one thing that must never go wrong? I used "never touch a
  chargeback" as a placeholder. Is that right?
- Where is the "Returns 2026" sheet, and does Tomás already have access to
  Helpdesk, Shopify, Sendcloud and the sheet?
- Can Tomás decide the partial refund percentage himself? Marta usually does
  50%. Is it 50% of the order total or of the item price?
- How long do we wait for a returned parcel before chasing the customer or
  Joana?

This is a good handover. Every branch in the notes is in the flowchart, including the one that's easy to miss: a damaged item is refundable at any age, so the damage check comes before the 30-day check. The steps use the box names, and the warning collects every decision that isn't Tomás's to make.

The best part is the last section. The notes never said what must not go wrong, and the AI didn't make something up. It picked the strongest never in the notes, labelled it a placeholder, and asked. Fifteen questions like that, answered in ten minutes the night before, are worth more than the rest of the document.

It still deserves one careful look, and this time the drawing is what gives the problem away. In the flowchart, Over 150 EUR? → Yes points at Daniel takes over, the same box as a chargeback, where the process stops. Step 12 says something different: ask Daniel for the amount, then carry on and refund. Even the step's "step 2 style hand-off" hints at how the arrow ended up there. The steps are right and the arrow is wrong. In the Mermaid source, that's one line among twenty-three, and it looks fine. In the drawing, it's an arrow from a refund decision into a dead end, and you see it at once. Point it out, and the fix is one line: N -->|Yes, Daniel sets amount| O.

#Save it as a file

Save it as refunds-handover.md in a folder your colleague can open too, like a shared iCloud Drive or Dropbox folder, and connect that folder in MD Flow.

#Why that matters next week

The diagram is a diagram where you read it. Mermaid is text until something draws it. In a text editor, the flowchart is twenty-three lines of arrows and braces, and so it is in a Mac Quick Look preview, where MD Flow's own extension shows Mermaid as highlighted code. Open the file in MD Flow and the flowchart and the sequence diagram are drawn right there between the steps they summarise, on a Mac, iPhone or iPad. The warning is a coloured callout, and the frontmatter is a header that says who owns this and until when. That's free.

When the process changes, the drawing changes with it. Paste a new rule into the chat ("replacements over 100 EUR need Daniel too, update the file") and the AI rewrites the Mermaid block with the rest of the file. No boxes to drag. If an agent edits the file in place, MD Flow's preview follows each save without losing your place.

Tomás doesn't need to know what Markdown is. If he'd rather not install anything, MD Flow Pro exports the file as a PDF, with the diagrams, the callout and the table intact. If he does open the folder in MD Flow, he reads exactly what you read.

The second handover is quicker. Next time it's the supplier orders, or someone covers you again in March. Search by filename is free, so handover finds every one you've written. With Pro, search reaches inside the files, so Sendcloud finds every process that touches it. Give the old handover to the AI with the new notes and say "same format". The first file becomes the template.

Your notes describe the process. The drawing shows the gap the notes left, and the file keeps it until someone needs it.