Specification-Driven Development: The Four Pillars

This article serves two purposes. First, it is the reference material for all ForEach Partners internship test assignments. If you are applying for an internship at jl.foreachpartners.com, read this before starting your test task. Your submission will be evaluated against these principles. Second, it is a standalone document. If you are building your own development workflow and want a systematic approach to specifications, traceability, and AI-assisted enforcement, this framework applies regardless of stack, team size, or project type. What Is Specification-Driven Development Specification-Driven Development (SDD) is an approach where the specification precedes implementation. You formulate a requirement first. Then you derive a contract from it: an API definition, a schema, an interface. Only then do you write code. AI tools (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf) accelerate every stage but do not replace any of them. An AI can generate code faster than you type it, but if that code has no tracea