Synthesise research on a board

A user research tool collects interview quotes and tags them by theme and sentiment. Synthesis, though, happens with the team on a board. This example adds Synthesise on a MockFlow board: the researcher connects their MockFlow account, and their insights become an affinity board in it, ready for the team to cluster, vote on and draw conclusions from.

Download the code (Node.js 18 or later, no packages)

What it creates

• A board titled "Synthesis:" and the study's name, in the researcher's account.

• A section per theme, such as "Delivery slots (3)", sized to fit its notes.

• A sticky note per quote, green for positive, pink for negative and yellow for neutral, with the participant as the note's author.

How it works

1. The researcher connects MockFlow through the OAuth flow with the scopes user:read boards:write, as in Open as a MockFlow board.

2. With their access token, create the board.

3. Lay out the sections and notes in a grid, and draw them with batches. A batch takes up to 100 operations, so a large study is sent in several.

Run the example

Register an app in the OAuth apps tab of the developer console with the redirect URI http://localhost:3000/oauth/callback and the scopes user:read and boards:write. Then:

cp .env.example .env        # paste the client ID and secret into .env
node server.js              # open http://localhost:3000

The key code

const board = await mf.post('/boards', { title: `Synthesis: ${study.study}` });
const ops = layout();   // a section per theme, a sticky note per quote
for (let i = 0; i < ops.length; i += 100) {
  await mf.batch(board.id, ops.slice(i, i + 100));
}

// One note
{ op: 'create', item: {
  type: 'sticky_note',
  position: { x, y },
  size: { width: 220, height: 220 },
  data: { text: `"${n.quote}"`, color: COLORS[n.sentiment], author: n.participant },
} }

Adapt it

• Survey tools: open answers grouped by question, as notes to cluster.

• Feedback tools: customer feedback by product area, before roadmap planning.

• Workshop tools: ideas collected online, laid out for the in person session.

What you need

An OAuth app with the scopes user:read and boards:write. Works for users on every plan; Basic accounts have three boards.