# Four to nine seconds. Name the step.

> A spinner that long feels broken.

- **Format:** short video, 9 steps, ~51 seconds
- **Topic:** Building a Flutter chat client for a Microsoft Foundry agent: design around four-to-nine-second agent turns by naming each step, and never let the model place an order without a real button press.
- **Author:** Suthahar Jegatheesan (MSDEVBUILD)
- **Category:** Azure · Azure
- **Published:** 2026-06-07
- **Tags:** flutter, dart, aiagents, ux, microsoftfoundry, azureai, mobiledev, msdevbuild
- **Canonical URL:** https://blog.msdevbuild.com/shorts/foundry-flutter-name-the-step/

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## What you'll learn

- How long an agent turn really takes
- Why a named step beats a spinner
- Why writes need a real button

## Understand it one step at a time

### 1. Tap send

The customer asks for something spicy under RM20.

### 2. A spinner for six seconds

Five seconds of spinner feels broken. People tap again.

### 3. Name the step

"Searching the menu…" during the first tool round.

### 4. And the next one

"Checking your order…" if the model needs a second round.

### 5. Timeouts from reality

Set the timeout from measured agent latency, not the 3 s you use elsewhere.

### 6. The agent proposes

"Shall I order the sambal chicken?" arrives as a card.

### 7. Only a button writes

create_order runs from the button press, never from the model.

### 8. Degrade gracefully

If the agent is down, the normal search and ordering still work.

### 9. Name the step, confirm the write

Design around four to nine seconds instead of fighting it.

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## The takeaway

**Name the step. Confirm the write.**

Never let the model place an order without a real button press.