Internal RFCs saved us months of wasted work
2 days ago
- #team-alignment
- #RFCs
- #engineering-process
- The author recounts a personal experience where a project went off track due to a lack of shared understanding among team members.
- Despite detailed verbal explanations and whiteboard sessions, the team implemented a feature incorrectly, leading to a stressful sprint and missed deadline.
- The incident highlighted the 'illusion of shared understanding'—where team members think they are aligned but actually have different mental models.
- The author discovered RFCs (Request for Comments) as a solution to make mental models visible and ensure alignment.
- RFCs are documents that describe solutions and are shared for feedback, commonly used in open-source projects but also effective internally.
- Advantages of RFCs include precision, reduced misinterpretation, and the ability to revisit details later.
- Introducing RFCs can face resistance, but starting with a timeboxed experiment and involving leaders can ease adoption.
- A simple RFC template includes a header (with name, owner, date, status, and approvers) and a body (with background and proposal sections).
- RFCs are useful for complex technical issues and new functionality, allowing asynchronous review and clear reasoning.
- The author now integrates RFCs into their engineering process to improve solutions, alignment, and knowledge sharing.