All Praise the Specification

Writing software again. We are producing some upgrades for a product that I might be able to tell you something about one day. Ian and I reckoned we knew what to do, but the occasion really demanded a specification. So we started writing one. If there is one thing that I've learnt over the years as a programmer it is that there is really, truly, nothing like writing a specification to convince yourself that you don't know anything about the problem. Never, ever, start coding without one. Our simple, tiny little fix is now described in a couple of pages of closely reasoned text which cover everything from installation and upgrade issues to the order in which buttons are to be pressed on the screen, and who can press them.

And we can now be quite confident that we know what the customer wants, and that we can give it to them in a way which will work.