October 16, 2026
Preparing for a digital project without knowing the technology
You do not need a technical specification to start a website or software project. You need clear answers to five questions that have nothing to do with technology.
Written by Sahad Labs
The specification myth
Many digital projects stall before they start because the owner believes they must first write a technical specification. In practice, the specification is produced together during the first stages of a project — from your answers to plain, non-technical questions.
Five questions that replace a specification
Who is this for, and what should they be able to do? What happens today, step by step, when someone needs this? What would success look like in three months? What must stay in place — tools, brand, obligations? And roughly what range of time and budget is realistic? Answer these in everyday language and you have the raw material of a specification.
Bring messy, honest context
A folder of real examples — emails you send repeatedly, spreadsheets your team actually maintains, screenshots of today’s process — teaches more than a polished feature list. Imperfect, honest context prevents the most expensive mistake in software: building the wrong thing carefully.
What a good partner does with it
A responsible partner turns your answers into a scope agreement, priorities, and a plan you can verify before major build effort begins. If someone quotes a fixed price without asking these questions, treat that as a warning sign — not a discount.