Your application’s rules are worth keeping too

A discount, a cancellation, restricted access: these decisions explain your application. Keeping them in writing makes corrections and handovers easier.

Take a fictional example: your application gives loyal customers a discount. Six months later, you change the rule: 15% from the third order onwards. If the old decision exists only in a forgotten conversation, whoever makes the change must first find it, or guess.

What a specification means

A specification describes what the application should do in a specific situation. Here, that means which orders count, when the discount starts and which amount it applies to.

The word may sound technical. The content is much less so: “A cancelled order does not count towards the three required orders” is a rule you can write and check without programming.

Keep decisions that change the result

You do not need to document every meeting. Keep the important rules, the people involved and any open questions. For bookings, that might mean a cancellation deadline; for quotes, how long they remain valid.

Also record why you chose a rule when that reason will help later. “We need a day to reorganise the calendar” explains a deadline better than an isolated number.

Update the document when the need changes

If the discount changes from 10% to 15%, update the written rule and record when it takes effect. Explain what happens to existing orders: does the new rate apply to them?

Then ask for checks on an old order and a new one. The document, the application and the checks should tell the same story. A document that is kept but no longer accurate can cause mistakes too.

Make a handover easier

Code is still needed to run and change the application. Documents help whoever takes over understand what must be preserved. One does not replace the other.

Also keep your data, access credentials and useful operating instructions. Checking that you can leave a tool means more than downloading a folder. Documents alone do not establish the rights you hold in the software either.

Start with a single page

Write down three rules that matter to your work, then a correct example for each one. Add an unresolved question and the name of someone who can answer it.

The requirements guide helps you expand that page. In Maestro, documents prepared with agents provide a basis for discussion: review your business rules and ask for corrections when they have been misunderstood.

Inside Maestro · built-in Tablée demo · captured September 6, 2026