Features and entry points describe the system. Neither answers why it should exist. I’ve been avoiding the requirements layer because requirements documents are where good intentions go to die. Stale Word files, wrong within a month.
I’m trying anyway. A BRD in Lattice holds the problem, the goals, the success criteria, the scenarios, the constraints, and what was ruled out. It points down at the features that implement it, and each feature points back up. For existing code the chain runs in reverse: the tool drafts a BRD from code evidence, marks it draft with llm_from_code provenance, and a human must approve it before it counts.
The detail I’m most attached to: approval pins a version. Edit the BRD afterward and a drift badge appears until a human re-approves. That one badge might be the difference between a living artifact and another dead document.
Future me: check whether the badge actually changed anyone’s behavior, or whether people just learned to ignore it.