What does the specification include?
Jobs users can do, with acceptance criteria to verify the job was done
Data your software will need to keep, with a clear explanation of the relationship between records
User interface: what’s on each screen in the usual case, the empty case with no records to show, where errors will be reported, and when users might not have permission
Permissions matrix for actions and user roles
A list of things deliberately out of scope, and why
How does it happen?
You tell us about your business and the problem you’re trying to solve. We’ll record the call. There’s no jargon, I promise.
Alex has been through this process many times, most notably as part of his team in co-founding AccountancyManager and taking it through an exit to Bright.
We’ll send you questions about places we think there are risks or decisions you’ll need to make, for example, What happens when a client cancels, but has already made a part-payment? Should they get a refund? Should it count towards their original order? Developers need to know before they start building, but you may not have considered this case until now. Perhaps you’ll need to discuss with staff, your accountant, etc.
We’ll send you a draft. You can add comments directly to the document. We’ll discuss your queries and send the final version.
You own this document. It’s written in clear English. Use it to get three quotes, hand over to a developer, or return to us to build.
The document will help you prioritise development work. We can advise on technical and operational risks and suggest an order of building that minimises risk. If you want us to build the system, the document helps us produce a phased approach and provide fixed-price quotes for each phase.
We can include a summary that helps you get approval from your committee, board, etc.
Can ChatGPT create a document for me?
It might be useful as a starting point for formatting and thinking about what should be in the specification, but it won’t understand your business well enough to produce anything close to accurate.
Why is it useful?
Imagine briefing a new member of staff on your business. You could probably do it in twenty minutes. You assume your new starter will make connections between pieces of information that are not explicit. Humans are very good at this. Software isn’t. The specification is written so that nothing is assumed.
What does it cost?
It’s a fixed fee and fixed timescale, which we’ll propose after hearing about your idea. Our quote will make it clear if any part of this fee would be credited towards a quote for building.
Some clients have several business systems that need to work together. If yours could be similar, we can quote a discovery exercise, where we spend time understanding your existing systems and produce a scoping document as an intermediate stage before writing the specification.
Get in touch
Book a spec call to see if a specification is a good next step.