Article · 12 min read

A practical guide to writing technical specs

Zara Cooper · Stack Overflow Blog Free Intermediate

This one is written for engineers, and reading it tells you what your developer will want that a pure product spec does not cover, so you can hand off cleanly and let them fill the technical half. It also reinforces our answer's core point: a good developer examines the problem and asks questions before writing code. Knowing the shape of their document helps you write yours to meet it.

  • See what a developer's technical spec covers versus your product spec
  • A spec makes the builder examine the problem before coding
  • Your clarity of intent is what lets them fill in the how

It answers 2 questions

  1. How do I write a spec for a developer when I'm not technical?
  2. How do I run a weekly ship cadence when I am non-technical and depend on a dev agency or freelancers?

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