TFD-0026: DAE-Style IDs with Per-Type Prefixes

TFD-0026: DAE-Style IDs with Per-Type Prefixes

Status: Accepted (§"no slug" rule superseded by TFD-0028 on 2026-05-28 afternoon) Date: 2026-05-28 Decision makers: CEO (Bruno), Nomenclature Specialist (Nora) Supersedes: TFD-0009 (request folder ID portion only — folder layout remains) Triggered by: CI-0038 (folder slugs too long; IDs too long to dictate)

Context

TFD-0009 set the folder format as {TYPE}-{DEPT}-{NNN}-{slug}. In 8 months of use this produced:

  • Folder names up to 67 characters (MET-0005-privacy-framework-gdpr-australian-privacy-act-canadian)
  • Path stacks already hitting 95+ characters before the user prefix, with Windows MAX_PATH = 260 risk as nesting grows
  • IDs that are painful to voice-dictate ("REQ CONS zero zero four STM electrician safety cadenassage process")
  • Three parallel REQ namespaces (CONS, EXEC, METH) that make cross-references ambiguous outside the folder location

DAE catalog folders (DAE-0007) already use a shorter, flatter pattern and have not had any of these problems. CEO directed nomenclature to extend that pattern across the factory, with one refinement on top of the first draft: instead of a single generic REQ-NNNN namespace, requests get per-type prefixes that encode the work category (RD for R&D, CON for Consulting, MET for Methodology). This restores at-a-glance category signal in the ID itself while preserving the short, dictation-friendly shape.

Decision

Adopt {TYPE}-{NNNN} as the canonical ID for all factory artifacts, where {TYPE} is a 2-3 letter code that identifies the work category, not the department per se. Each type has its own sequence, zero-padded to 4 digits.

Type catalog

Type Meaning Owner pattern Old equivalent
RD R&D evaluations (tools, patterns, ecosystem) Riley REQ-EXEC-*
CON Consulting requests (client-billable work, audits, design) Philippe REQ-CONS-*
MET Methodology infrastructure (frameworks, conventions, standards) Marcel / Francois / Nora REQ-METH-*
WO Work orders for digital talent production Production line WO-PROD-*
DAE Client deliverables for EA agent EA agent DAE-* (unchanged)
TFD Talent Factory Decisions CEO + stakeholders TFD-* (zero-pad to 4)
CI Continuous improvement items Various owners CI-* (zero-pad to 4)

Additional categories (CS, OPS, QA, etc.) get their own 2-3 letter prefix when they generate their first request — never invented retroactively, never collapsed into a generic REQ.

New format

Artifact Old New
R&D evaluation RD-0008-token-efficiency RD-0008-token-efficiency
Consulting request CON-0004-stm-electrician-safety-cadenassage-process CON-0004-stm-cadenassage
Methodology request MET-0008-macroscope-rendering-templates-a100-a230-a280 MET-0008-macroscope-rendering
Work order WO-0008-maya-conversational-kb-talent WO-0008-maya
Client deliverable DAE-0007-trangesco-evaluation-systemes DAE-0007-transgesco
Decision record TFD-0025-agent-ea-client-folder-partition TFD-0025-agent-ea-partition
Continuous-improvement item CI-0038 CI-0038-folder-ids
House request (new) DH-0001-desjardins-financement

Key rules

  1. ID core is {TYPE}-{NNNN}, folder name is {TYPE}-{NNNN}-{short-slug} (slug mandatory). The slug is for human navigation; every system reference (cross-links, frontmatter id:, scripts) uses only the {TYPE}-{NNNN} core and ignores the slug.
  2. Slug rules: max 25 characters, kebab-case (lowercase, hyphens, ASCII), no dept codes, no dates, no version suffixes. Drop vendor/client names to their short form (e.g. desjardins not caisse-desjardins-laval). The slug must compress the gist — if you can't summarize in 25 chars, pick the most distinguishing word.
  3. Number is per-type sequence, zero-padded to 4 digits. Existing per-dept numbers are preserved — RD-0008 becomes RD-0008, never renumbered.
  4. Title lives in frontmatter of request.md / order.md / the TFD body. The slug is a hint, not the source of truth.
  5. Department lives in the folder location (departments/{dept}/requests/{TYPE}-NNNN[-slug]/) and in dept: frontmatter.
  6. Folder layout from TFD-0009 is preserved: request.md/order.md + input/ + process/ + output/.
  7. Voice-dictation contract: "RD zero zero zero eight" must round-trip to RD-0008 — the slug is silent. Tools that resolve IDs match on the {TYPE}-{NNNN} prefix and ignore any suffix.

Acceptance criteria

  • No folder name exceeds 34 characters (ID core ≤ 8 + hyphen + slug ≤ 25). Voice-dictation contract is the test: "RD zero zero zero eight" must round-trip to RD-0008 regardless of slug.
  • Every request.md / order.md frontmatter carries id, title, dept, created — these together replace the slug-encoded context.
  • naming-conventions.md reflects the new format and TFD-0009 carries a Superseded banner.
  • Cross-references across the codebase (factory-backlog.md, intranet, request-status outputs, etc.) point to the new IDs.
  • Mapping CSV at departments/methodology/nomenclature-specialist-nora/migrations/ci-038-id-remap.csv is the canonical old→new lookup.

Definition of done

  • TFD-0026 merged (this file).
  • naming-conventions.md Request/Order Naming section rewritten.
  • TFD-0009 marked Superseded-by-TFD-0026.
  • Mapping table departments/methodology/nomenclature-specialist-nora/migrations/ci-038-id-remap.csv exists, reviewed by CEO.
  • All REQ/WO/DAE/TFD folders renamed to new format.
  • All ID references in tracked files updated (grep -r confirms zero hits on old format).
  • request-status skill output uses new IDs.

Renumbering rule

No renumbering. Existing per-dept sequences are preserved as per-type sequences with zero-padding:

  • REQ-EXEC-NNN → RD-00NN (32 items, sequence 0001–0033 with one gap)
  • REQ-CONS-NNN → CON-00NN (15 items)
  • REQ-METH-NNN → MET-00NN (8 items)
  • WO-PROD-NNN → WO-00NN (10 items)
  • TFD-NNN → TFD-00NN (26 items)
  • CI-NNN → CI-00NN (38 items)
  • DAE-NNNN already conformant

Mechanical, predictable, preserves all existing cross-references' numbers. The mapping CSV documents every old→new pair as the canonical lookup.

Consequences

Pros

  • Folder paths shrink from 60+ chars to 8 chars. MAX_PATH risk eliminated.
  • IDs become dictation-friendly (~7 syllables).
  • Cross-references across docs become unambiguous (no more "do you mean CON-0008 or RD-0008?").
  • Folder name no longer encodes context that goes stale (renaming an initiative no longer requires a folder rename).

Cons

  • One-time migration of 65 REQ/WO folders + their references. Mapping table mitigates.
  • Reading git status no longer tells you what a REQ is about — must open frontmatter or look up in request-status output.
  • Historical chat references to old IDs (e.g., "CON-0004") need mental remapping for ~1 month. Mapping table doubles as lookup.

Mitigations

  • request-status skill regenerates company/requests-registry.md showing REQ-NNNN | title | dept | status in one view.
  • Intranet exposes the same table at /requests.
  • Mapping CSV preserved indefinitely under migrations/.

Out of scope

  • DAE folders in OneDrive (clients/{client}/DAE-NNNN-{slug}/) — separate migration, follows TFD-0025 partitioning. CI-0038 covers repo only for now.
  • Notes inside input/note-{subject}.md retain their descriptive slug — that's intentional, they are not addressable artifacts.

Related

  • TFD-0009 (universal request folder standard) — superseded on ID portion, preserved on folder layout.
  • TFD-0025 (agent-ea client folder partition) — OneDrive client DAE structure, complementary.
  • CI-0038 (factory-backlog.md) — origin of this decision.
  • Naming standards at departments/methodology/nomenclature-specialist-nora/standards/naming-conventions.md.