Specifying

Specifying is the act of naming, describing, or otherwise detailing the exact properties, conditions, or requirements of something. The goal is to remove ambiguity by making expectations explicit. The noun form specification refers to the document or statement that records these details. The term is used across disciplines.

In engineering and software, specifications articulate required features, performance levels, interfaces, data formats, and constraints. Functional specifications focus on what a system should do; technical specifications describe how a design should be realized, including standards, materials, and compliance.

In research, administration, and law, specifications define methods, protocols, tolerances, and compliance criteria. Data management uses specifications to describe schemas, metadata, and validation rules, ensuring interoperability and reproducibility.

In linguistics and semantics, specifying involves identifying the intended referent or interpretation, often through descriptive phrases or constraints that limit possible meanings. In procurement and manufacturing, material and quality specifications set acceptable standards for goods and services.

Best practices for specifying include eliciting stakeholder needs, translating them into measurable criteria, writing precise, testable language, and using standardized formats. Clear traceability from requirements to deliverables and regular review mitigate misinterpretation and scope creep.

Etymology: the word specify derives from Latin roots related to appearance and designation, and entered English through Old French and other routes; specification denotes the resulting statement or document.