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Governance Pack

The Governance Pack adds accountability, audit trails, and compliance features to your Distil roadmap.

What Problem Does This Solve?​

Without Governance Pack, acceptance decisions can be informal:

  • PMs might accept cards without clear rationale
  • There's no record of who decided what and when
  • Cards can be changed or deleted without a trace
  • Hard to justify decisions to leadership or auditors

Governance Pack fixes this by adding structure and accountability.

Key Features​

1. Enforced Acceptance Rationale​

What it does: You cannot accept a card without documenting why.

How it works:

  • When you click "Accept," a rationale field appears
  • You must enter at least one sentence explaining why
  • The card won't accept until you provide rationale

Example rationale:

  • "Requested by 8 enterprise customers in Q1. Blocking 2 deals."
  • "Top feature request from user survey (52% of respondents)."
  • "Strategic: Required for GDPR compliance."

Why this matters: Forces critical thinking and creates a paper trail of decisions.

2. Card Locking​

What it does: Prevents changes to accepted cards after they're locked.

How it works:

  • Admins can lock any accepted card
  • Locked cards cannot be edited, deleted, or moved
  • Only admins can unlock cards

Use cases:

  • Lock cards after board approval
  • Lock cards that represent legal/compliance commitments
  • Prevent accidental changes to high-stakes decisions

Why this matters: Protects important decisions from casual changes.

3. Audit Trail​

What it does: Logs every significant action on cards.

What's logged:

  • Who accepted the card and when
  • Acceptance rationale
  • Who locked/unlocked the card
  • Status changes (Needs Signal → Accepted → Ready)
  • Push events (when card was sent to Jira/Linear)
  • Major edits (title/description changes)

How to view:

  • Open any card
  • Click "History" tab
  • See full timeline of changes

Why this matters: Essential for regulated environments and post-mortems.

4. Enhanced Integration Context​

What it does: Jira and Linear issues include additional governance context.

What's included in pushed issues:

  • Full acceptance rationale
  • Accepted by (name and email)
  • Accepted date
  • Link back to Distil card

Why this matters: Engineers see why they're building something, not just what.

Who Needs This Pack?​

Regulated Industries​

If you're in healthcare, finance, or government, you likely need audit trails for compliance.

Example: FDA-regulated medical device company needs to justify every product decision with documented rationale.

Enterprise Teams​

Large companies often need to explain roadmap decisions to executives, boards, or customers.

Example: VP of Product presents quarterly roadmap to board and must show data backing each commitment.

High-Stakes Products​

If your roadmap decisions have legal, financial, or safety implications, you need accountability.

Example: Security software company must document why they prioritize certain vulnerabilities over others.

Process-Driven Teams​

Some teams just prefer structure and documentation as a best practice.

Example: Product team wants to instill discipline and prevent rubber-stamping of feature requests.

Setting Up Governance Pack​

1. Enable the Pack​

  1. Go to Settings → Packs
  2. Find Governance Pack
  3. Click "Enable" (or start free trial)
  4. Confirm

2. Configure Settings​

Acceptance rationale:

  • Required (default): Cannot accept without rationale
  • Optional: Rationale field shows but isn't required

Card locking:

  • Admins only (default): Only admins can lock/unlock
  • Disabled: Locking feature hidden entirely

Audit retention:

  • Unlimited (default): Keep all history forever
  • 1 year: Automatically archive history older than 1 year

3. Train Your Team​

Make sure PMs know:

  • Why rationale matters
  • What makes good rationale (evidence-based, specific)
  • When to lock cards (after board approval, for compliance items)
  • How to view audit trails

Using Governance Pack​

Accepting Cards with Rationale​

  1. Open a card in Needs Signal
  2. Click "Accept"
  3. Enter rationale (1-3 sentences explaining why based on evidence)
  4. Click "Accept Card"

Good rationale examples:

  • "Top requested feature in Q1 survey (67 votes). Blocks enterprise expansion per sales."
  • "Legal requirement: CCPA mandates user data deletion within 30 days."
  • "Strategic bet: Opens up SMB market segment per product strategy."

Bad rationale examples:

  • "Good idea" (too vague)
  • "CEO wants it" (no evidence of customer need)
  • "Seems useful" (not backed by data)

Locking Cards​

When to lock:

  • After board or leadership approval
  • For compliance or legal commitments
  • High-value enterprise customer commitments
  • When you want to prevent accidental changes

How to lock:

  1. Open an accepted card
  2. Click the lock icon (admins only)
  3. Confirm locking
  4. Card is now locked (read-only except for admins)

How to unlock:

  1. Open a locked card
  2. Click the unlock icon (admins only)
  3. Provide a reason for unlocking (logged in audit trail)
  4. Confirm

Viewing Audit Trails​

  1. Open any card
  2. Click the "History" tab
  3. See chronological log of all actions

What you'll see:

  • "Accepted by Jane Doe on Jan 15, 2024"
  • "Rationale: Top requested feature (12 customers)"
  • "Locked by John Admin on Jan 16, 2024"
  • "Pushed to Jira (PROD-123) on Jan 20, 2024"

This creates a complete record of the card's journey.

Integration with Jira and Linear​

When you push cards to Jira or Linear with Governance Pack enabled:

Jira issues include:

  • Original feedback
  • Acceptance rationale
  • Accepted by (PM name)
  • Accepted date
  • Link to Distil card

Example Jira description:

[Original feedback description]

---
✓ Accepted in Distil
Rationale: Top requested feature in Q1 survey (67 votes). Blocks enterprise expansion.
Accepted by: Jane Doe (jane@company.com)
Accepted: January 15, 2024

View in Distil: [link]

Why this matters: Engineers understand the why and see the data backing the decision.

Compliance Use Cases​

ISO 27001 / SOC 2​

Governance Pack helps with:

  • Change management (audit trail of decisions)
  • Access control (card locking prevents unauthorized changes)
  • Documentation (required rationale creates paper trail)

FDA / Medical Devices​

Governance Pack helps with:

  • Design controls (documented rationale for design decisions)
  • Risk management (lock high-risk decisions)
  • Traceability (full audit trail from feedback to implementation)

GDPR / Data Privacy​

Governance Pack helps with:

  • Accountability principle (clear record of privacy decisions)
  • Documentation requirements (rationale for data handling changes)
  • Auditing (trail of who approved what changes)

Note: Governance Pack provides tools for compliance, but doesn't guarantee compliance. Consult your legal/compliance team for specific requirements.

Governance Pack Limits​

What's included:

  • Unlimited cards with rationale
  • Unlimited audit history (default)
  • Unlimited locks

What's not included:

  • Multi-level approval workflows (single approve step only)
  • External approval integrations (Slack, email)
  • Custom fields for compliance metadata

If you need advanced governance features, contact sales about Enterprise options.

Pricing​

Governance Pack pricing varies by plan:

  • Growth plan: $X/month per workspace
  • Enterprise plan: Included or custom pricing

See Plans Explained for current pricing.

Best Practices​

Write Rationale for Humans​

Your future self and teammates should be able to read rationale 6 months later and understand why the decision made sense.

Good: "Customer retention data shows 40% of churned users cited missing SSO. Top request from enterprise segment (18 mentions in sales calls)."

Bad: "Customers want it."

Lock Sparingly​

Don't lock every accepted card. Reserve locking for:

  • Board commitments
  • Compliance/legal requirements
  • High-value customer commitments

Over-locking creates rigidity.

Review Audit Trails During Retros​

During retrospectives, review audit trails for major cards:

  • Did our acceptance rationale hold up?
  • Did we learn anything that invalidates the decision?
  • Should we adjust our evaluation criteria?

This helps improve your signal detection over time.

Combine with Visibility Pack​

Governance Pack + Visibility Pack = Transparent, accountable roadmap.

Show customers:

  • What you're building (Visibility Pack)
  • Why you're building it (Governance Pack rationale)
  • Who made the decision (Governance Pack audit trail)

This builds trust.

Common Questions​

Can I add rationale to old cards?​

Yes. If you enable Governance Pack, you can go back and add rationale to previously accepted cards. It won't be required retroactively, but you can fill it in.

Can I edit rationale after accepting?​

Yes (unless the card is locked). Rationale edits are logged in the audit trail.

Who can see audit trails?​

All workspace members can view audit trails. They're not restricted to admins.

What happens if I disable Governance Pack?​

  • Existing rationale remains visible on cards
  • Locks are removed (all cards become editable)
  • Audit trail becomes read-only (preserved but no new entries)
  • New acceptances don't require rationale

You can re-enable anytime and everything comes back.

Next Steps​