Most messy analytics stacks begin with well-intentioned engineers shipping events under names that made sense in a sprint ticket. Six months later, product cannot answer a simple funnel question without a translation meeting.
We start every Path Trace Audit by naming the decision first: what will someone do with this number? Only then do we pick a verb-object event name and the properties that must travel with it.
Keep the dictionary short. Prefer one well-defined activation event over five near-duplicates. When two teams need different cuts, add properties — do not invent parallel events.
Write the names in a shared sheet before any code merges. The sheet becomes the contract; the code follows. That single habit prevents months of quiet drift.