So you would write functional acceptance tests, and the only thing written down is a Story. If all goes well, maybe you have a happy client at the end of that.

So you would write functional acceptance tests, and the only thing written down is a Story. If all goes well, maybe you have a happy client at the end of that. If they're OK with costs and time being potentially an order-of-magnitude off. Most people outside of the software world aren't. Most people outside of the software world use specs. I feel like if there were a better, more reliable way to build something, anything, it would be common. But wether it's a car, a house, a boat, a bridge, a road, a piece of furniture or a motion film, that's not the way it works generally. If you want repeat business anyways. I feel like resounding success without specs is the exception. At least it's always been that way in my career. The less planning effort, the less success. The correlation is so strong IME that it's basically like saying fire is hot. As someone whose dealt with independent contractors for house work, it really sucks for a client to not know the what, for how much and when. I've never met a client that objected to nailing those down (within reason) before I started sending over invoices for Developer hours.