The house rules
Specify the ideal. Pour it so it stays.
Two acronyms, used as a standard — not as decoration. PISS is how we write. POUR is how we judge what we poured.
Specification
Platonically Ideal Software Specification
The platonic form of a spec is not longer. It is complete. It names the universe, the invariants, and the failures — so a stranger could implement it, and you could replay the result.
- P
Platonically
The spec describes the form, not a screenshot of last Tuesday. You write the thing as it should be — complete enough that a stranger could implement it without calling you.
- I
Ideal
Ideal is not decorative. It is the smallest complete description: invariants, failure modes, and what is explicitly out of scope. Ambiguity is a defect in the spec, not a feature of the meeting.
- S
Software
The artifact is software, not a slide deck. A platonic spec still has to compile into running behavior. If it cannot be built, it is literature.
- S
Specification
A specification is a contract with time. It names inputs, outputs, and the universe in which they exist. It is the only document we treat as source.
A POUR reading
Score a system you keep.
Evidence, not vibes. A 3 without an example is a 1. Move the sliders for something you shipped.
Composite
3.0
Drinkable, with holes. Pick the lowest axis and pour a test that would have caught last month.