We used to treat the spec as the end of the conversation.
Now, it’s where our questions begin.
The sun was shining gently through the salon’s window when she settled into the chair for her makeup trial. As the artist began her work, she asked a few questions about the venue, the weather, and the kind of look she was going for.
“Something elegant but not too heavy,” the bride said, mentioning the outdoor setting and the usual humidity. The artist nodded. “So, long-lasting, camera-ready… anything in particular you want to highlight?” “My eyes and cheeks,” she smiled. Then she paused, mid-thought. “Actually… let’s just make a checklist. I always forget something in the rush.”
The artist laughed. “Now I can tell you’re a Project Manager. Turning even makeup into a checklist!”
They pulled out her phone and jotted it all down: lighting, humidity, touch-ups, skin prep, everything that might otherwise slip through.
She glanced at the list again and added, “Funny how this mirrors our projects, if you don’t ask the right questions early, you end up patching things last minute. It’s rarely the big stuff, it’s the small, obvious things that come back to bite.”
She smiled and added, “We do the same thing back at WonderBiz. Whenever we start any new work, we don’t just jump in, we create a checklist to cover every detail, so nothing gets missed. It’s all about staying ahead and keeping things running smoothly.”
Weeks later, that same woman, also a Project Manager at WonderBiz, was in a review meeting with her internal team. A new functional spec had just come in from the Customer. She stood at the whiteboard, marker in hand, scanning the flow diagrams. “Looks okay,” someone said cautiously. She tilted her head. “Yeah, it looks okay, but how much clarity do we actually have?”
“About 70 percent?” a developer guessed. “The main flow is there, but…”
“But what about alternate flows?” she asked. “Non-functional stuff? Do we know the expected load or response times? What about edge cases?” The room fell silent. “And how do we know we’re not missing anything until design starts or QA kicks in?”
One of the senior developers admitted, “It’s difficult to keep the Spec updated. By the time changes are made, we’re already deep into development. It always causes issues downstream.”
She nodded. “And we don’t demand enough clarity upfront. Functional, non-functional, or both. We only realize the gaps when things break.”
Then she smiled. “This feels exactly like that makeup trial. The basics were in place. But unless I had asked all the right questions and made a checklist, I would’ve missed something critical. So why not here too?” “You mean, build a checklist for the Spec?” She looked around the room. “This checklist can’t just cover the obvious stuff like flows and UX. What about non-functional requirements? Things like system load, scalability, and response times?”
A developer nodded. “Right. We also need to consider security needs, data retention policies, failure handling, logging, monitoring, and compatibility with other systems.” The Architect chimed in, “Whenever the team hits complex technical questions, I can step in to help. It’s important that the checklist includes those deeper details.”Another team member added, “And what about requirements that won’t come in this phase? Like future integrations or features?”
She smiled, “Good point. Let’s tag those as out-of-phase in the Requirements Tool or note them in our demo minutes. That way, they don’t hold us up but we still track them.”“So basically,” the Project Manager summed up, “we treat the Customer’s Spec as 70 percent done, and we fill in the other 30 percent, covering all these functional and non-functional details.”
The team sat up. The team began drafting the checklist that same afternoon. It didn’t solve everything overnight, but it gave structure, a rhythm, a framework.
And the Customer noticed.
“This release was the cleanest we’ve had in a while,” their Product Owner said during a retrospective. “Specs came in sharper, and our effort on clarifications dropped by half. Whatever you’ve changed, keep doing it.”
The numbers backed it too. Fewer late-cycle bugs. Smoother design. Consistent 5 percent cost savings per release, thanks to reduced rework.
And the biggest win? The Supplier Team was no longer chasing clarity. They were creating it. Because the Project Manager had treated that Customer Spec like what it really was, not a finished document, but a base that needed another 30 percent of active thinking.
5%
The Architect stepped in when needed. The developers asked smarter questions. The Customer, in turn, saved their own time by not having to deeply document everything upfront. It started in a salon, with a checklist for skin tones and humidity. It became a practice for specs that were always evolving. And it worked.
Because at the end of the day, clarity isn’t given; it’s created. With the right questions, the right process, and a shared commitment, every project can move forward with confidence and purpose. That’s the power of a Spec Checklist.
Let’s discuss how a Spec Checklist can transform your workflow.
Contact us at info@wonderbiz.in
Key Takeaway
We stopped treating specs as finished and started asking the questions they missed.
The Spec Checklist helped us fill the gaps early and releases felt smoother, faster, cleaner.
