[RFC]: Complementary lifecycle layer inspired by AI-DLC — portfolio to delivery

### Summary

Hi team,

AI-DLC was the original inspiration for what I've built. Seeing how you structured the build phase — contracted inputs, staged gates, governance — made me realize the same approach could extend to every role in the lifecycle. So I built that.

AIFLC is an open-source (Apache 2.0) chain of 11 packages covering the phases before, around, and above the build:

Portfolio & Initiation — idea capture, project selection, PMO-grade charters
Product & UX — backlog ownership, personas, journeys, accessibility
Architecture — C4, ADRs, security model, API contracts (this is where AI-DLC picks up)
Workspace & Governance — steering rules, compliance enforcement
Test & PM — test strategy, cross-project health, orchestration
Each package produces a contracted output consumed by the next. AI-DLC handles the build itself; AIFLC handles everything around it.

Credit where it's due: the packages closest to your work (AI-ADLC, AI-DWG, AI-GCE, AI-TGE) carry an "Inspired by: awslabs/aidlc-workflows" attribution in their NOTICE files.

Not proposing a merge — just making you aware it exists. If there's ever interest in cross-reference or interop, I'm open to it.

Brand hub: https://github.com/mbmd/AIFLC
PDLC family (11 packages): https://github.com/mbmd/AIPDLC
Thanks for building AI-DLC in the open. It made this possible.

### Motivation

AI-DLC solves the build phase brilliantly — but real projects break before the build starts. Portfolio decisions are vibes. Business cases are improvised. Architecture never meets the requirements that spawned it. There's no open-source system that connects the full chain from idea capture through to governed delivery, with each step handing a contracted input to the next. AI-DLC inspired the insight that the same contract-driven, staged-gate pattern could extend to every role in the lifecycle.

### Detailed Proposal

I've built AIFLC — an open-source (Apache 2.0) chain of 11 packages that covers everything before, around, and above AI-DLC:

Portfolio & Initiation — idea capture, project selection, PMO-grade charters
Product & UX — backlog ownership, personas, journeys, accessibility
Architecture — C4, ADRs, security model, API contracts (where AI-DLC picks up)
Workspace & Governance — steering rules, compliance enforcement
Test & PM — test strategy, cross-project health, orchestration
Each package produces contracted outputs consumed by the next. AI-DLC sits at the build/delivery link; AIFLC wraps around it.

The packages closest to your work (AI-ADLC, AI-DWG, AI-GCE, AI-TGE) carry "Inspired by: awslabs/aidlc-workflows" in their NOTICE files.

Not proposing a merge — sharing awareness. If there's interest in cross-reference or interop, I'm open.

Brand hub: https://github.com/mbmd/AIFLC
PDLC packages: https://github.com/mbmd/AIPDLC

### Alternatives Considered

N/A — this isn't a change request to AI-DLC. It's a notification of a complementary project that credits and builds around your work.

### Drawbacks

_No response_

### Additional Context

_No response_

Review the AIFLC and AIPDLC links and the issue's description of possible cross-reference or interoperability. The issue explicitly says it is not a change request and provides no files, tests, entry points, or definition of done, so there is no implementation path to verify.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.