SOC2 for Builders, Part 1: Treat It Like a Product Requirement
SOC2 only feels like paperwork when you bolt it on after the fact. We treat it like a product requirement: clear outcomes that must be true every time we ship.
This first post is about the framing that makes the rest of the series easy.
SOC2 for Builders series
- Part 1: Treat It Like a Product Requirement (this post)
- Part 2: Data Classification and Logging Hygiene
- Part 3: Access Control and Least Privilege by Default
- Part 4: Change Control, CI, and Deploy Evidence
- Part 5: Incident Response, Backups, and Restore Proof
The framing we use
If a change touches auth, data, or operations, it isn’t “done” until these are true:
- Authorization is enforced and tested.
- Logging avoids raw inputs and payloads.
- CI produces an artifact tied to the commit.
- Deploys are explicit and traceable.
- Runbooks are updated when behavior changes.
That’s a product requirement. It belongs in your backlog and your definitions of done, not in a separate compliance doc.
If an outcome isn’t testable, it isn’t a requirement yet.
Evidence should be a byproduct
If you need screenshots to prove something happened, the process is too manual. We want evidence to fall out of normal work:
- PR with required reviewers.
- CI run that links to a commit and artifact.
- Deploy workflow that takes a specific image tag or SHA.
That chain is your audit trail. It’s clean, boring, and easy to hand over.
Turn abstract controls into concrete outcomes
SOC2 controls sound abstract until you write them as testable outcomes. For example:
- Control: changes are reviewed before release.
- Outcome: production changes go through a PR with required checks.
- Enforcement: branch protection + required workflows.
Do that translation once and the rest is implementation detail.
What to avoid
- “We’ll fix compliance later.” Later becomes never.
- Policies with no enforcement in CI or infra.
- Controls that live only in spreadsheets.
A short checklist we reuse
Use this list when touching anything sensitive:
- Data is classified (PII, customer content, or safe).
- Logging is scrubbed or redacted by default.
- Authz checks exist and are tested.
- CI validates the change.
- Deploy path is explicit and traceable.
Next up
Part 2 goes deep on data classification and logging hygiene. It’s the fastest way to reduce risk without slowing shipping.
Related reading
- SOC2 for Builders, Part 3: Access Control and Least Privilege by Default
- SOC2 for Builders, Part 2: Data Classification and Logging Hygiene