# What is spec-driven development?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/thoughtworks-technology-podcast-1060653/what-is-spec-driven-development
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/thoughtworks-technology-podcast-1060653/what-is-spec-driven-development.md
Podcast: [Thoughtworks Technology Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/thoughtworks-technology-podcast-1060653)
Published: 2026-05-28T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://thoughtworks.libsyn.com/what-is-spec-driven-development
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thoughtworks/SDD_v1_mixdown.mp3?dest-id=790869
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/thoughtworks-technology-podcast-1060653/episodes/what-is-spec-driven-development
Duration seconds: 2739

## Resource

Semantic diffusion, combined with the pace of technology change, makes talking about AI-adjacent practices and techniques incredibly diffficult. There are few better examples of this issue than the term 'spec-driven development'. Although it's not new — its coinage precedes our current AI moment — it has become ubiquitous over the last six months or so as software professionals attempt to develop a vocabulary for talking about how they're developing methods for working successfully with coding agents. On this episode of the Technology Podcast, Birgitta Böckeler is joined by Laura Tacho — Developer Experience at AWS — to discuss all things spec-driven development. From competing definitions to different interpretations, implementations and workflows, the discussion provides a frank and grounded look at one of the most discussed and debated terms in modern software engineering. Learn more about Laura's work by visiting her website: https://lauratacho.com/ Read Birgitta's article on spec-driven development on Martin Fowler's website: https://martinfowler.com/articles/exploring-gen-ai/sdd-3-tools.html Learn more about The Future of Software Development Retreat discussed on this episode and explore some of the key insights: https://www.thoughtworks.com/about-us/events/the-future-of-software-development

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## Transcript

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