Best reads for PMs & Designers
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Updated 6 Nov
The written spec is back as the real output. Somebody has to say exactly what done means
Career & Craft
- Practitioners who spent years arguing against big specifications are writing them again, because somebody has to state precisely what done means.
- The reason given is mechanical rather than cultural, because an agent builds whatever the sentence permits.
- The material includes a solo founder's account, a design essay, a behaviour driven development rewrite and a job listing about specifications decaying against code.
- Those four are unrelated parties with no shared event, so this is not one week's news.
11
sources
+8
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last 30d
+6
First seen 25 Feb 2026
If you are a PM
BeforeNow
Acceptance criteria are paperworkWrite criteria the agent cannot misread
Done is whatever got builtYou judge it against the real goal
A rough prompt saves timeCount the fixes a rough prompt costs
BeforeNow
A mockup with sample content
Who said it
Thoughtworks Insightsthoughtworks.com · 22 October 2026
Don’t ask AI to write the user story yet…Once stakeholders have answered the questions that matter, write down what was agreed: the rule, who owns it, where it came from and what’s still open. Only then ask AI to draft acceptance criteria, and draft them from that record. …Nielsen Norman Groupyoutube.com · 21 October 2026
