Does an AND gateway wait for all incoming flows to arrive before continuing?

An AND gateway does indeed wait for all incoming flows to arrive before it continues the process. This characteristic is fundamental to how AND gateways operate within business process modeling. The AND gateway acts as a synchronization point, requiring all paths leading into it to be completed successfully. Only when all the incoming flows are received does the process flow continue to the subsequent tasks or activities.

This behavior ensures that all necessary conditions are met before proceeding, which is critical in scenarios where specific actions depend on the completion of multiple parallel tasks. The requirement for complete input enhances the integrity and order of process execution, making it a key feature of AND gateways in process design.

While the behavior of other types of gateways, such as OR or XOR gateways, differs—where they may proceed with just one or a subset of incoming flows—this distinct functionality sets the AND gateway apart and makes it essential for managing complex processes that require full synchronization.