Keyword counts are not customer-demand counts. When auditing a product backlog, separate: (1)…

Keyword counts are not customer-demand counts. When auditing a product backlog, separate: (1) tickets directly sourced from a customer-support or meeting record, (2) tickets that deliver a customer-visible capability but merely mention that system, and (3) internal CI/release/test references. Only the first category answers “what did customers ask for”; the second answers “what affects customers”; the third is operational noise. This classification still needs judgment for broad consolidation tickets and should not treat a ticket’s status as proof of customer adoption.

Evidence/example — 2026-09-09

In the Shield Linear project, literal searches produced many Pylon hits because CI containment, release investigation, and product work all use the word. A smaller set explicitly linked Pylon request IDs and customer-facing requirements; Granola had both a meeting-to-feature link and an internal audit record. Source: read-only Linear project search and issue-detail review (Shield project; Pylon/Granola queries).