One-page spectemplate.
Split everything into two buckets, must be true to proceed and discover through delivery, then replace the monster document with one page. A 200-page spec does not prevent surprises. It just delays them until they are more expensive.
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Chapter 13The One-Page Decision Spec
Split everything into two buckets — must be true to proceed and discover through delivery — then replace the monster document with one page.
ONE-PAGE DECISION SPEC Decision statement: [statement] 3 constraints: [constraints] 3 key journeys: [journeys] Next proof + date: [proof + date] Must be true to proceed: […] Discover through delivery: […] Cut anything not directly tied to a key user journey, a control or constraint, or a proof point. — From Just F*cking Ship It · voltsmethod.com/learn
A 200-page spec does not prevent surprises. It just delays them until they are more expensive.
From Chapter 13, Just F*cking Ship It by Matthew Barrington-Packer
When to reach for it,
and how to fill it in.
Use it when
- The specification has become the work, and nothing is being built.
- Sign-off is stuck because nobody can read the document in one sitting.
- You need a team to start with enough clarity, not total certainty.
How to fill it in
- Write the decision statement in one sentence.
- Name three constraints. Only three.
- Name three key journeys the work must support.
- Set the next proof and its date.
- Split the rest: what must be true to proceed, and what you will discover through delivery.
Where it usually goes wrong.
If you cannot know it until you build it, it belongs in “discover through delivery”, not in the spec.
Ten constraints means nobody knows which ones matter. Three forces the conversation.
A spec without a next proof point is a document waiting to be revised.
Quick answers
What is a one-page spec?
A single page that states the decision, the key constraints and journeys, the next proof point, and splits requirements into what must be true now and what can be learned through delivery.
Is a one-page spec enough to start building?
It is enough to start the right first step. Detail grows from proof, not from more pages written up front.
What goes in “discover through delivery”?
Anything you cannot know for certain until real users or real systems touch it: edge cases, performance, exact wording.
The rest of the toolkit.
A template fixes ambiguity.
The book fixes the room.
This is one of the tools from Just F*cking Ship It, the five-move VOLTS Method for getting stuck work shipped. Read it in an afternoon. Ship something by Friday.