issue-metadata conventions: operationalize native types, sub-issues hierarchy, dependencies, priority re-baseline, close-reason + documented conventions (umbrella)

[kyle-sexton]

Category: conventions (umbrella) · Source: control-tower issue-taxonomy audit 2026-07-19 (Opus auditor, all claims gh-verified against live org/repo)

Finding — native primitives enabled, decided, and unused

Empirical capability matrix: issue types enabled org-wide (ADR 0003 accepted 2026-07-13) but 1/99 open issues typed; sub-issues endpoint live, zero usage repo-wide; native dependencies (blocked-by) live, zero usage; milestones/projects empty (skip — see member 6). Umbrellas model membership as prose ("19-issue class", "member 1/5") — no rollup, not queryable. The work-map label's own description assumes sub-issues; 25 open wayfind: design items are parentless orphans.

Members (one umbrella; the filing/triage skills + operating-procedures own the changes)

1. Type axis at filing time [triage + work + dogfood filing skills, S]: set --type on every gh issue create (Task default; Bug via bug-report path; Feature for capability asks). Decision already made in ADR 0003 — operationalize, don't re-litigate. (The governance-App permission blocker is filed in github-iac.)
2. Sub-issues for the hierarchy axis [operating-procedures + wayfind, M] — RECOMMENDED: split axes. Umbrella→member becomes real sub-issues (progress rollup, queryable); semantic Relations prose stays (sub-issues can't carry "supersedes"/"adds guidance" meaning). work-map issue = parent, wayfind items = children — matches the label's stated design. Maps the old .work epic → slice → sub-topic chain onto native primitives.
3. Native dependencies for blocks/blocked-by [operating-procedures + triage, S]: machine-queryable "what's blocked" replaces prose scanning. Blocks/blocked-by only; supersedes/duplicate stay prose+close.
4. Priority re-baseline [triage skill, S]: 77% of open issues carry priority: high — meaningless as a staffing signal and it dilutes the terminal-4 priority-high partition. Triage defaults medium; high reserved for blocks-other-work/imminent-need. Land automation: auto-apply 'priority: needs-triage' to new issues lacking a priority label #506 first, then re-triage the high backlog.
5. Close-reason discipline [track/triage skills, S]: 60/60 sampled closures = COMPLETED, zero not-planned — dupes/supersedes are being mis-closed. Duplicate path: close as not-planned + ## Duplicate of #N.
6. Document title + body conventions [operating-procedures, M]: ~98% title-prefix conformance and the lane-filing body shape are load-bearing and written down nowhere. Short documented section the lane skills cite — RECOMMENDED over GitHub issue forms (forms fight the autonomous gh issue create path). Projects v2: skip (duplicates the label state machine); deferred-with-trigger: adopt when >1 repo needs unified rollup.

Relations

ADR 0003 (github-iac — type axis decision), #506 (auto-labeler — member 4 prerequisite), #515 (enrichment artifacts attach to the hierarchy this creates), #513 (complexity signal could ride the type/field axis).

[kyle-sexton]

Operator decision (2026-07-19 interview) — member 4 (priority re-baseline) APPROVED with a hard caveat:

• Triage defaults to priority: medium going forward. High requires: blocks other work, or member of the week's merge-autonomy/scaling chain.
• Agent-run re-triage sweep of the existing ~76 high items proposes new priorities in a batch for operator review BEFORE any label flips — no silent mass re-labeling.
• CAVEAT (operator): blocking issues and PRs must never sit unnoticed because their priority label reads medium. Blocked/blocking state must stay first-class and visible — member 3's native blocked-by dependencies are the mechanism (machine-queryable), and anything BLOCKING other work is high by definition under the new criteria. The sweep and the triage skill must both encode this.

[kyle-sexton]

This was generated by AI during triage.

T2 — routing status: ready. All 6 members carry a single, already-well-grounded RECOMMENDED shape in the issue's own body — most are operationalizing decisions already made elsewhere (ADR 0003 for the type axis) rather than opening new design space. Per member: (1) type axis at filing time — set --type on every gh issue create, decision already ratified in ADR 0003, this is enforcement not re-litigation; (2) sub-issues for hierarchy — split axes: umbrella→member becomes real sub-issues, semantic Relations prose stays for non-hierarchical links (supersedes/adds-guidance); (3) native dependencies for blocks/blocked-by only, supersedes/duplicate stay prose+close; (4) priority re-baseline — already executed this session per the #552-cited operator decision, triage now defaults priority: medium; (5) close-reason discipline — duplicate closes use not-planned + ## Duplicate of #N, never COMPLETED; (6) document title/body conventions in operating-procedures (not GitHub issue forms — forms fight the autonomous gh issue create path).

Decision defaulted: land member 4 (priority re-baseline) first since it's already in effect this session — the rest are independent and can land in any order. Veto before merge if a different sequencing is preferred.

Blocked-by note: member 1 references a github-iac governance-App permission blocker already filed there (not re-filed here)."