Choose when notification preferences are evaluated
A user opts out after an event is queued but still receives the email, and the team has no documented policy.
- Focused work estimate
- 2h + prerequisites
- Priority in the scenario
- Medium
- Engineering practice
- Tradeoff analysis · Preference design
Estimated field mix
- System design50%
- Privacy engineering30%
- Backend20%
Field percentages are editorial estimates of the ticket's engineering focus. They total 100%; they are not measured time, proficiency scores, or ownership evidence.
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Project context
A fictional collaboration tool sends email and in-app notifications. Duplicate alerts and preference changes reveal that the design has no single definition of delivery.
Setup prerequisites
- Create synthetic recipients, events and fake delivery providers.
- Do not send real email or messages.
Preceding work
Complete these dependencies, or supply their agreed outputs before taking this ticket.
Acceptance criteria
- Compare preference-at-intent and preference-at-send semantics.
- Choose and document behavior for opt-out and critical notices.
- Define how a changed preference version affects queued work.
Implementation constraints
- Do not silently invent a legal or mandatory-notice requirement.
Verification to include
- Trace an opt-out between event and send.
- Trace a missing preference record under the declared default policy.
Deliverables
- Preference-timing architecture decision
Rollout and recovery
Review with product before adapter work; keep unresolved categories unsent.
Value of the work
For the engineer: Practice asynchronous contracts, preference timing and delivery uncertainty.
For the team: Review a notification design that controls nuisance, disclosure and recovery.
Evidence boundaries
Outcome Evidence: Tests, patches, and runbooks are requested deliverables. They become Outcome Evidence only through a qualified Mission and immutable Evidence IDs.
Ownership Evidence: Independent adaptation must be observed under a declared verification policy and cite immutable Evidence IDs. Completing a planning ticket establishes no Ownership Evidence.