A thorough team guide to RFCs.

A comprehensive team guide to implementing RFCs (Request for Comments) that covers every aspect from initial setup to ongoing maintenance. The guide provides detailed templates for different types of technical decisions, clear processes for submission and review, defined roles and responsibilities for authors, reviewers, and approvers, and strategies for building a culture of constructive technical discussion. Key components include determining when RFCs are required versus optional, establishing review timelines and escalation paths, creating feedback mechanisms that encourage participation without overwhelming contributors, and measuring RFC effectiveness through metrics like decision velocity and knowledge retention. Engineering leaders will learn how to avoid common implementation failures such as template bloat, review bottlenecks, and participation fatigue. The framework emphasizes adapting RFC processes to team size and culture, balancing documentation needs with development speed, and using RFCs as teaching tools for junior engineers. Special attention is given to remote and distributed teams, showing how asynchronous RFC processes can improve inclusive decision-making across time zones.