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Ship the Spec

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Notes from the spec bench.

  1. 04.

    "It's backward compatible": an AI prompt that reads your API diff like a hostile consumer

    Most breaking changes ship inside diffs someone called safe. Here is a prompt that reads a contract diff from the strict consumer's seat — verdict table, the changes that look safe but aren't, and the one question no diff can answer. With a worked example.

  2. 03.

    Why your specs get bounced back (and what AI changes about it)

    Dev teams bounce specs for the same five gaps, every time: unsourced rules, untestable criteria, missing refusals, two-way sentences, undefined contract detail. AI fixes two of them and quietly makes three worse. Here is the review loop that catches all five.

  3. 02.

    AI prompts for user stories: how to get vertical slices, not backend tickets

    Ask AI to split an epic and it hands you a 'backend story' and a 'frontend story' — the exact split that gets bounced. Here is how to prompt for vertical slices, run an INVEST self-audit, and catch the detail it invents.

  4. 01.

    The AI prompt for acceptance criteria that gives you testable Thens

    Ask ChatGPT or Copilot for acceptance criteria and you get 'the system handles it correctly' — untestable slop. Here is the one rule that fixes the prompt, with a before/after on a real story.