Interview Me

Instructions

Phase 1: Determine Spec Type

Is this a product spec (what to build and why) or a technical spec (how to build something already defined)?

• Product spec → focus on problem, users, outcomes, scope
• Technical spec → focus on approach, constraints, interfaces, tradeoffs

Phase 2: Iterative Questioning

• Build on the previous answer
• Expose an assumption or ambiguity
• Be specific enough to get a concrete answer
• Include a suggested default when possible ("I'd assume X — is that right?")

1. Who has this problem? (specific user type, not "users")
2. What are they doing today instead? (workaround or nothing)
3. What does success look like? (observable outcome, not feature list)
4. What's explicitly out of scope? (anti-features)
5. What's the smallest version that delivers value?

1. What's the input and output? (data shape, format)
2. What existing code does this touch? (files, services, APIs)
3. What constraints matter? (performance, backwards compatibility, security)
4. What are the tradeoffs between approaches? (propose 2-3 options)
5. What could go wrong? (failure modes, edge cases)

Phase 3: Draft the Spec

Product Spec Format

## Problem
[1-2 sentences: who has this problem and why it matters]

## Solution
[1-2 sentences: what we're building]

## Requirements
- [ ] [Specific, testable requirement]
- [ ] [...]

## Anti-Features (Out of Scope)
- [Thing we're explicitly NOT building]

## Open Questions
- [Anything unresolved]

Technical Spec Format

## Goal
[What this achieves in one sentence]

## Approach
[How it works at a high level]

## Changes
| File/Component | Change |
|---|---|
| [path] | [what changes] |

## Constraints
- [Performance, compatibility, security requirements]

## Edge Cases
- [Failure modes and how they're handled]

## Open Questions
- [Anything unresolved]

Phase 4: Confirm and Hand Off

• "Want me to implement this now?"
• "Should I create a more detailed plan with

  /brainstorming

  ?"
• "Want to save this spec to a file?"