Alex Rivera | Logout

What makes a good spec?

Asked 2008-12-18T21:34:28.513
38

One of the items in the Joel Test is that a project/company should have a specification.

I'm wondering what makes a spec good. Some companies will write volumes of useless specification that no one ever reads, others will not write anything down because "no one will read any of it anyway". So, what do you put into your spec? What is the good balance between the two extremes? Is there something particularly important that really, really (!) should always be recorded in a specification?

specifications
Edit
Report

2 Answers

4

As someone who develops bespoke software for clients, the best spec is the one which the customer has signed.

It doesn't matter how refined your spec is - if the customer hasn't explicitly agreed to it in writing, they'll change it and expect you to roll with their changes seamlessly, wrecking your beautiful architecture...

answered 2008-12-18T22:13:31.290
1

Read Joel's series of "Painless Functional Specifications" followups to the Joel Test article. They also appear in the "Joel on Software" book.

answered 2008-12-18T21:44:24.640

Your Answer