I've found there's a bit of a cycle to how this is handled. We had some resource related issues and for a time we were required to write a system impact doc (d

I've found there's a bit of a cycle to how this is handled. We had some resource related issues and for a time we were required to write a system impact doc (describing in detail any new resources used) with every change. Even, say, fixing some copy. We've backed off from that now, thankfully, but informally. The next time somebody puts a bunch of additional load on a cache server without telling anyone, and it falls over, that requirement will return. "You should take time to think about the resource implications of your change and inform the appropriate teams" is of course a good idea. But it's not easily fixed with process; no amount of process will prevent somebody from calling the fast_get_the_thing function without realizing it's a terrible hack somebody had hoped would never see the light of day and attempts to use it will open database connections like crazy because of the weird implications of the obsolete driver it - and your system - rely on.