Cheap Code Raises the Value of Product Judgment

Some teams argue that a pull request (PR, a code change) should come before a product requirements document (PRD). I disagree, including on AI-native teams.I still rank them PRD > PR > ticket (one scoped engineering change item).Subscribe nowA collection of tickets get filtered and coalesce into a documentI first published this on www.harshal-patil.com on Apr 28, 2025.Tickets are a way to communicateEngineering tickets were a way for different functions to communicate with each other. For example, product managers or designers communicate the changes that the engineering team needs to build.Skip tickets for small AI coding changesWhen writing a tracker ticket (Jira, Linear) takes more effort than implementing the change, skip the ticket. Implement the change directly. This case shows up often with AI-assisted coding for AI-native teams. You already know the fix. The ticket adds little value.PRs are concrete, reviewable, closer to shipped value, and less likely to go stale.Why PRDs…