State Machine Design

Format: Draw a state transition diagram for a given business process.

Scenario 1: E-Commerce Order States

What states might an order go through? Draw all possible state transitions.

Hint: It's not just "Unpaid → Paid → Shipped → Delivered"
Also consider: cancellation, refund, partial refund, timeout, exception...

Scenario 2: Content Moderation Flow

After a user submits content (post/comment), what states does the content go through?
Consider: auto-moderation, manual review, appeal, re-review...

Scenario 3: User Account Lifecycle

From registration to account deletion, what states does a user account have?
Consider: unverified, active, dormant, banned, under appeal, deleted...

Self-Assessment Criteria:

• Are the transition conditions between each state clear?
• Are there any "infinite loops" or "dead states" (states you can enter but never leave)?
• Does each state transition need to be recorded? (Audit trail)
• Are edge cases handled?