Request or topic?
Eight messages, the way they really arrive. For each one: could you decide on it as it stands, or does it go back with a question? A request is decidable when it says what should change, plus who it hurts or why now.
Message 1 of 8, from VP Product in #eng-leads
We should really look into AI for support this year.
The rule behind the game
Most work arrives as a topic ("mobile checkout"), a solution ("we need SSO") or half a sentence from a meeting. A team can be busy on any of those for a quarter and still not deliver what was wanted, because what was wanted was never said. The test is small: does the message say what should change, and either who is affected or why it matters now? If it does, it can be shaped, sized and decided. If it does not, the honest next step is a question, not an estimate.
The reasoning is in A topic is not a request, and the free request check runs the same reading on a request you paste — no account, nothing stored. In DeliverySheet this check is the door: a request enters the lifecycle only when it states the need plus an impact or a reason for now.