A funnel is a summary. It is allowed. Leadership likes triangles. Screen Flow Analytics still needs the places the triangle erased. We say “queue” because people wait, backtrack, and cut in — they do not only fall through a hole.
When a PM says “drop-off at step two,” three teammates may picture three screens. The queue makes them point at a cell. That is the entire brand name: Systemqueuegrid. A system for lining screens up so argument has a surface.
What a funnel hides on purpose
Interrupts. Sheets. System dialogs. The back gesture. A bilingual toggle. A toast that looks like success. Funnels hide these because event taxonomies were written for counting, not for place. If you only report the funnel, you will “optimise step two” by changing copy on the wrong screen.
What a queue still cannot do
It cannot see offline counters, shared phones, or a spouse reading over a shoulder. It cannot replace judgement about whether a cell should exist. It can only stop you from pretending a summary is a map. We repeat that limitation in every Queue Grid Method critique. Students who skip it produce prettier slides and worse ships.
Use funnels after the grid exists. Use them to communicate. Do not use them to discover. Discovery is twelve annotated sessions and a drawing with more cells than your taxonomy expected.