Rfc Writer

rfc-writer

The pre-decision proposal document. ADRs declare; RFCs propose for discussion. Use when the change is large enough that pre-commitment review is the right shape.

When to use

• Proposing an org-wide platform / process / standard change (e.g., the Actions hardening campaign).
• A new policy proposal (e.g., the AI governance position).
• A planned deprecation that affects more than one team.
• A material change to a shared service.

When NOT to use

• Decision already made → adr-writer.
• One-paragraph stakeholder ask → use the stakeholder-update-writer decisions-needed section.
• Control exceptions → exception-request-drafter.

Document structure

# RFC-{number} — {title}

**Status**: draft | open-for-comment | accepted | rejected | superseded
**Author**: {name}
**Sponsor**: {executive sponsor}
**Comment period**: {open → close dates}
**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD

## Summary
{2-3 sentences. What is being proposed?}

## Motivation
{Why now? What problem are we solving? Cite relevant vault notes.}

## Proposal
{The concrete change. Include design diagrams if architectural.}

## Rollout plan
{Phased plan with timing. Phase 1 / Phase 2 / Phase 3. Cohorts. Criteria for moving between phases.}

## Rollback plan
{How do we reverse if the change goes badly? What's the trigger for rollback?}

## Risk
{What could go wrong? Likelihood + impact + mitigation per risk.}

## Migration
{If this replaces an existing system / process, what's the migration path? Cohorts? Cutover?}

## Open questions
{Items requiring decision before the RFC can ratify.}

## Alternatives considered
{Options that didn't make the proposal — and why.}

## Related
{[[wikilinks]] — research notes, prior decisions, facts.}

Lands at vault/decisions/YYYY-MM-DD-rfc-{slug}.md initially with status: draft; transitions to open-for-comment, then accepted / rejected / superseded.

Composes with

• vault-writer.write_decision.
• stakeholder-update-writer — open-for-comment RFCs feature in the eng-lead-tier updates.
• adr-writer — accepted RFCs may spawn ADRs that capture the resulting technical decisions.

Acceptance test (for step 32 done-criteria)

SKILL.md describes the 9-section RFC template and the status lifecycle. Live exercise deferred — the next genuine org-wide proposal is the natural trigger.