They arrive from everywhere: client meetings, emails, Slack messages, comments buried in project management tools. Often the same request, worded differently, from different people.
Most teams have good capture OR good tracking. Rarely both.
So we designed a system around a simple goal:
Every story's dream is: request → ticket → commit → merge → successful test.
The Full Lifecycle
Each step matters:
- Capture — Collect from any source (emails, calls, comments) without losing context
- Dedupe — Recognize when three people asked for the same thing in different words
- Specify — Turn vague requests into concrete acceptance criteria
- Approve — Get explicit sign-off before building
- Build — Link commits to the story they address
- Verify — Prove it works with automated tests
The Security Parallel
Here's what made this click for me: security vulnerabilities already have this lifecycle.
When a CVE is discovered, nobody questions the process:
- Vulnerability detected
- Ticket created
- Fix implemented
- Verification confirmed
Why don't feature requests get the same rigor?
The question isn't "did we build it?" It's "can we trace it back to the conversation where it started?"
What Gets Lost
Without end-to-end tracking, things fall through:
- Duplicate work — Two developers building the same thing because requests came through different channels
- Orphan code — Features that exist but nobody remembers why
- Missing tests — "It works" but no proof it keeps working
- Lost context — Why did we build it this way? Nobody knows anymore.
The Traceability Win
When every story has a clear trail from request to verification, you get:
- Accountability — Every feature traces to a decision
- Auditability — Show exactly what was requested and what was delivered
- Confidence — Tests prove the story was actually satisfied
- Institutional memory — Six months from now, you'll know why things are the way they are
The Bottom Line
Feature requests deserve the same lifecycle rigor as security vulnerabilities. Not because process is fun, but because lost requests and orphan code are expensive.
Every story wants to become a verified, tested, traceable piece of your system. The question is whether your process helps it get there—or loses it along the way.
