Review the workflow before reducing screen count

Connect each screen to a user goal

For each screen, record who enters it, what information they inspect, what decision they make and where they go next. Similar layouts may serve different purposes; different layouts may repeat the same task.

Mapping goals makes duplication easier to see. A request-detail view and an approval view may share data, but their permissions and consequences still need review before combining them.

This is a design method, not a report of a measured client result. The useful objective is less repeated navigation and input while completing a task, rather than a smaller screen count in isolation.

Record both consolidation candidates and separation needs

Views sharing data and actions but differing only in query conditions may become one list with filters. Work that alternates between a list and details may benefit from adjacent panels on a wide screen and staged navigation on mobile.

Separate permissions, approval steps, preserved drafts or consequential actions can justify distinct flows. Moving everything into tabs or dialogs may merely relocate complexity.

For each candidate, record the expected benefit and what could be lost. Fewer transitions may still produce weaker orientation or remove a useful direct URL. Compare the whole task, not only the number of destinations.

Compare the old and new design through one scenario

Consider an illustrative workflow in which an operator opens a request, checks its details and approves it. Record the information and decision points in the original, then locate the same information in a combined list-and-detail design.

Check moving to the next item, returning with filters intact and resuming after another task. If editing is involved, decide how navigation preserves or confirms unsaved work.

Include no results, insufficient permission and errors in the prototype. Counting clicks only in the successful path can hide the return paths and retries that operational work also needs.

Look for complexity introduced by consolidation

After combining views, inspect the number of interacting states: selection, filters, drafts and dialogs can affect each other in surprising ways.

• Try refresh and Back to recover the current location.
• Open a direct URL and check the required state.
• Complete the task on a small screen and with a keyboard.
• Verify that permissions and validation rules still hold.

Record the reasoning and review findings. They help future developers decide whether to extend the combined view or separate a new workflow. Screen count follows from those decisions rather than serving as the sole target.