I think you are largely correct, but I think I would instead characterize it as well-defined requirements and guarantees. What I mean by these terms is: require

I think you are largely correct, but I think I would instead characterize it as well-defined requirements and guarantees. What I mean by these terms is: requirements are a formal statement of a problem, guarantees are a formal statement about a solution, and a specification is a formal implementation that guarantees the requirements are met. For instance, using the case of a bridge, the requirement might be something like: "lasts 10 years, max 10 ton load", the implementation might be a steel bridge, and the guarantee of the specification might be something like: "lasts 20 years, max 20 ton load". Put another way, the key distinction is that engineering has an objective measure of what is considered adequate (i.e. solving the problem) and an expectation that only adequate solutions should be implemented.