Helena Crowe marks dictionaries with a simple cruelty: if the event name contains a campaign slogan, a hex colour, or the word “new”, it fails. “SparkStartTapped” will look dated six weeks after the spark campaign ends. “trial_started” will not.
Object, action, context. The object is a durable noun in the product — trial, workout, invoice — not a component library name. The action is a verb the business already uses in support tickets. Context belongs in properties: platform, plan_tier as an enum, source as a small list. Context does not belong in the event name unless you enjoy maintaining twins.
Rebrands are a load test
When a company restyles “Checkout” as “Complete bag”, teams that coupled telemetry to copy have to rewrite history or live with a broken funnel. Teams that named the job — order_submitted — keep the spine. The overlay in week three of Product Signal Mapping exists to force that distinction on paper before the brand team schedules the photoshoot.
A note on elegance
Some engineers prefer a perfectly nested schema. We prefer names a tired product manager can type into a search box at 18:40. Elegance that cannot be remembered is another form of noise.
If you want this marked on your actual app rather than argued in an essay, the flagship programme is the place. Bring the worst name you currently ship. We will not laugh for long.