Task and Scope Management

Purpose

This playbook defines how Forward Deployment teams capture feedback, shape scope, and keep engineering work ready without creating unnecessary process overhead.

Source of Truth

Notion is the source of truth for:

• Client feedback.
• Scope and priorities.
• Work status.
• Acceptance criteria.
• Release grouping.
• Project visibility.

GitHub is the source of truth for:

• Pull requests.
• Code review.
• CI results.
• Deployment history.
• Rollback workflow history.

Slack is for:

• Fast discussion.
• Clarification.
• Notifications.

Slack is not the source of truth for task ownership or priority.

Standard Notion Template

Project Dashboard

Use this page for quick project visibility.

Recommended fields:

• Project phase.
• This week’s focus.
• Blockers.
• Next release.
• GitHub repo.
• Staging URL.
• Production URL.
• Slack channel.
• Credentials or secrets location.
• Key client documents.

Work Board

Use this for buildable work.

Required fields:

• Title.
• Status: Backlog, Ready, In Progress, Review, Done.
• Priority: P0, P1, P2, Later.
• Type: Bug, Feature, Ops, Research.
• Owner.
• Acceptance criteria.
• GitHub PR link.
• Release target.
• Release risk: Low, Medium, High.

Feedback Inbox

Use this for raw or semi-structured feedback before it becomes buildable work.

Required fields:

• Feedback.
• Source: call, Slack, WhatsApp, email, demo, internal.
• Date.
• Decision: Convert to task, Clarify, Later, No action.
• Linked task.

Release Log

Use this for planned and completed releases.

Required fields:

• Release date.
• Included tasks.
• Deployment owner.
• Go/no-go decision.
• Rollback path.
• Result.
• GitHub workflow or deployment link.

Task Creation Rules

Any role can create a task:

• Deployment Strategist.
• AI-PM.
• Project Technical DRI.
• FDE.

The gate is not who created the task. The gate is whether the task meets the Definition of Ready.

When a Notion Task Is Required

Create a Notion task when work affects:

• Client-visible behavior.
• Production behavior.
• Data model or data migration.
• Infrastructure.
• Authentication or authorization.
• Billing or cost.
• External integrations.
• AI output quality.
• Release scope.

Do not require a Notion task for small internal cleanup under 30 minutes with no client or production impact.

Feedback Triage

Client feedback should be classified as one of:

• Bug
• Feature
• Question
• Later
• No action

Feedback should become a Work Board task only when there is enough clarity to act.

Weekly Triage

Run a short weekly triage for active projects.

Expected duration: 15-30 minutes.

Required output:

• Top priorities for the week.
• Blockers.
• Tasks moved to Ready.
• Feedback that needs client clarification.
• Expected next release, if any.

AI-Assisted Task Drafting

Strategists should be able to use Notion AI to create task drafts from meeting notes or feedback.

Suggested prompt:

Turn this client feedback into a concise engineering task.

Return:
- Title
- Type: Bug, Feature, Ops, or Research
- Priority suggestion: P0, P1, P2, or Later
- Clear outcome
- Acceptance criteria, 1-3 bullets
- Open questions
- Release risk: Low, Medium, or High

Keep the task short and implementation-neutral.

The FDE can refine the task before or during implementation if details become clearer.

Engineer Autonomy

FDEs can:

• Split broad tasks into smaller tasks.
• Add technical tasks discovered during implementation.
• Mark a task as not ready if the outcome or acceptance criteria are unclear.
• Start work on ready low-risk and medium-risk tasks without waiting for Project Technical DRI approval.

High-risk tasks can start with discovery or implementation, but release approval must happen before production deployment.