njschro's blog

In this chapter, Berkun explores multiple aspects and definitions of specifications. I had a good idea of the various types of specs, but Berkun gave me a more robust perspective. In the section titled “Specifying is Not Designing,” he makes a valid point; one that triggers memories of past projects – where I found myself torn between designing specs more than expressing them. According to Berkun, I should be mindful of this situation and “…be focused on expressing an existing plan or set of decisions in the best possible way” (Berkun, 2008).

Another part of this chapter that I see as valuable is the section “Writing for One Versus Writing for Many.” I admire his ideas on this topic because I noticed that, when writing my proposal and mindmap, there was a change shortly after. This change was present in how I formulated the training – and how I would communicate the use of these technologies to Claudia. This is a good thing to keep in mind also because I need to know who I am writing for (her, me, or the both of us). And the best way to do this, according to Berkun, “..is to separate explanations of behavior or functionality in the spec from issues or questions about the current descriptions” (Berkun, 2008).