
Say you were building a website where the users must register. So, if you don’t want unexpected setbacks hindering your developers’ progress, it’s best to spell out the elements of the project ahead of time. It’s as stupid as setting off to cross the Mojave desert with just the clothes on your back, hoping to ‘wing it.’”

“Failing to write a spec is the single biggest unnecessary risk you take in a software project. And according to Joel Spolsky, founder of Trello, operating without a technical specification makes it even riskier. Software development is an innately risky business. If you write a good technical specification before the development phase begins, your team will have a clear-cut plan of work, and the stakeholders will be able to form realistic expectations-that’s a win-win situation. Why Is It Important to Write a Technical Specification? Keep reading to learn more about the benefits a tech spec brings to software teams. However, the technical specification is more than a blueprint for the project. These are:Īlthough the points listed above may resemble something you’d find in marketing materials, technical specifications are designed primarily for internal use.Īfter the development team lead and software architect design the product specification, project managers, developers, and quality assurance specialists use the document as a reference throughout the entire development process.

In case the terms features and requirements sound too ambiguous, we’ll list some of the main points that technical specifications aim to address. To put it plainly, technical specifications describe what the product will do and how the development team will achieve that. It’s usually designed as a comprehensive document containing the details on how to create these features, such as information about the product design and technical development, and it is part of writing software documentation. What Is a Technical Specification Document?Ī technical specification is a document that outlines the requirements and features that a product has to have in order to work as intended.

In this article, we’ll see what a technical specification entails, how projects benefit from writing one, and how you can create yours. Now, we know that jumping straight to code sounds attractive, but the benefits of preparing a technical specification are too significant to ignore. This type of document is like a roadmap you can follow while building your product. You’ve got an idea for great software, you’ve assembled the team, secured the funding, and now you’re ready to start coding.īut hold your horses! Your project will be much more successful if you write a technical specification first.
