Spec Reviews: How Teams Align Before Writing Code

Spec reviews catch design bugs before implementation starts. Learn why they matter, who should be involved, and how to run them efficiently.

Engineers collaborating on a design document before writing code

Code review is standard practice. Spec review is not. But reviewing a spec before implementation starts catches design mistakes when they're cheap to fix — before anyone has written a line of code.

Why Review Specs

A 30-minute spec review can prevent a week of rework. Code reviews catch implementation bugs. Spec reviews catch design bugs:

Missing edge cases
Conflicting requirements
Unrealistic acceptance criteria
Scope that's too large for one iteration
Integration assumptions that don't hold