A specification the client reads, questions and approves

Most arguments in a software project start with "that is not what we agreed". There was a specification, but as a file in an email: someone changed a paragraph, someone approved it on the phone, and nobody can say which version was approved. Here the specification lives in one place, and every version has its own approval.

How a specification gets in

The provider uploads a file or pastes text. Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, plain text and a zip of HTML with images are accepted, up to 25 MB. Images inside the document are extracted on their own, and a Figma link is kept as a link.

When there is no document yet, you can start from the client's own words. The provider enters what the client said, and the system returns an organized draft: purpose, users, screens, data, integrations and what is out of scope. Next to it come up to eight questions about what is missing, what could be read two ways and what will come up later anyway. Answer them and the draft updates without losing the wording it already had. Questions left open go into the specification itself, so nobody forgets them.

The document stays the document

The system splits the specification into paragraphs, tables, lists, steps and notes, but it does not rewrite or translate it. It returns only the structure and line numbers, and it checks itself: a missing line, a duplicated line or an image it could not find is shown to the provider, who accepts each one before publishing. Anyone who wants to can also see the original in its own formatting.

A personal link, not a shared one

Everyone who has to approve gets a link of their own. Access is by a six-digit code sent only to the address that link was sent to, so a forwarded link opens nothing. "Sign out on all devices" closes every session at once, and a new link cancels the old one.

A question on a paragraph, an answer from the provider

The client writes a remark on any paragraph or on the whole document. The provider replies and marks it resolved. When a new version comes out, the people who approved or commented before get an email describing the change, and their page marks what changed since they approved, with the previous text of every changed paragraph.

Approval of a version, not of the specification in general

An approval belongs to a person and to one specific version. It does not carry over to the next version, and if a newer version was published while someone was reading, the system asks them to read that one first. An approval can carry a remark. The provider sees "N of M approved", who opened the page and when, and who has not yet.

There is a due date, and there are reminders: one after three days and one the day before the due date, only to those who have not approved yet. One email covers both the specification and the prototype when both are waiting.

A signed copy that does not change

Once everyone has approved, a single PDF is assembled from three parts: the text of the version, every remark across all versions, and the approval record. The copy is built once and never rebuilt, it carries a fingerprint, and it is emailed to everyone who approved and to the provider. It also goes into the project's knowledge base, where both sides can ask questions about it.

From the specification to a proposal and a task

From a specification with text, the provider builds a draft proposal: the system breaks the specification into modules and estimates each one, and whatever the specification is missing enters the proposal as a line with no hours. The cost of the run is shown before it starts and has a cap. The proposal remembers which version it was built from, and it is marked out of date when a new version of the specification or of the prototype comes out.

A specification can be linked to one task, and the client sees it under the number they already know.

Who does what

The provider writes and changes the specification. The client reads, asks and approves, but does not edit the text: that way it is always clear who wrote what and which version was approved.

The provider sees the whole picture on their card: who received a link, who opened it and when, who approved which version, and how many remarks each person wrote.

Frequently asked questions