What is the first step when the commit process is initiated?

When the commit process is initiated, the first step is to check if a feature branch for that user story exists. This is essential because the feature branch serves as the specific environment where changes related to the user story can be made, tested, and eventually merged back into the main branch.

Verifying the existence of a feature branch helps ensure that development efforts are aligned with the specific user story, allowing team members to collaborate efficiently. It also helps maintain a clean and organized repository by ensuring each user story is encapsulated within its own designated branch. This practice promotes better version control and simplifies the tracking of changes related to individual user stories throughout the development and deployment pipeline.

Other steps mentioned, such as verifying user permissions or creating a new user story, may be relevant in their own contexts but are not foundational to initiating the commit process. The deployment process is a separate phase that occurs after the commit stage, further emphasizing the importance of having the appropriate branches set up before any code is committed for deployment.