followC

FollowC is a concept and accompanying tooling approach designed to ensure that follow-up tasks related to code changes are actively tracked and completed. It aims to close the loop between development activities and the resolution of issues, design questions, or technical debts that become apparent during reviews, testing, or post-release analysis. Rather than a single monolithic product, followC refers to a family of configurations, plugins, and workflows that share the goal of accountability and timely task resolution.

Origins and scope: FollowC emerged from practices in software development teams seeking to reduce backlog growth and ambiguity around responsibility for follow-up work. It is not tied to a single vendor or standard, but rather to a set of patterns that can be implemented across different toolchains. Core intent is to convert informal post-change observations into concrete, attributed actions with traceable ownership.

Key features: FollowC typically defines triggers linked to code events, such as pull request merges, failed builds, test-timeouts, or static analysis alerts. When triggered, it creates or updates tasks in existing issue trackers, assigns owners, sets due dates, and establishes links back to the original change. It often includes configurable routing rules, escalation paths, and basic metrics to monitor resolution times and backlog health. Integration with version control, CI/CD pipelines, and project management tools is common, along with audit trails and access controls.

Implementation and usage: FollowC can be implemented as plugins for popular CI systems or as standalone services that read configuration files and operate within the project’s existing toolset. Adoption typically centers on reducing missing follow-ups and improving accountability rather than changing core development practices.

See also: issue tracking, project management, continuous integration, automation.