Intent Capture Template

Filled with the owner on a call, not over email. Captures what the business is trying to make happen before any requirement is written. An hour here routinely removes a week of rebuild.

Syntax

implementor-onboarding

INTENT CAPTURE — [tenant] — [date]

Who is this for?            the specific person or role, not "users"
What are they trying to do? in their words, one sentence
What happens today?         current process, including the manual parts
What does it cost them?     time, lost work, rework, risk — a number if one exists
What does "better" look like?  observable; what would they SEE
What must NOT change?       the things that work and are load-bearing
What is out of scope?       said out loud, now
How will we know it worked? the acceptance signal — one checkable sentence

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
What happens today	process	Including the manual workarounds. The workaround usually IS the requirement.
What must NOT change	constraint	The most commonly skipped line, and the one that prevents breaking something load-bearing.
How will we know it worked	acceptance signal	If nobody can state it, the work is not ready to start.

Example

implementor-onboarding

Requirement as offered: "Add a quote request form with name, email,
phone, service type, and message."

Intent as captured: "We lose jobs because people enquire after hours
and we don't call back for two days. We want the request to land
somewhere we check, with enough detail to price it without a second
call."

What that changes: WHERE it lands and WHAT it captures matter more
than the form. A form emailing a mailbox nobody reads passes every
acceptance test and fails the intent.