

Ask HN: Where can I find an example of a professional functional specification? - xoe26

I&#x27;m a freelance developer and I have managed to land a very large contract (6 figures). It&#x27;s an ecommerce web project (design and development) and I&#x27;m very keen on making an excellent impression.<p>I promised the client that I would draw up a full specification of the work that I will be providing - however I&#x27;m not a very confident writer and I don&#x27;t know where to start.<p>I&#x27;ve read Joel&#x27;s guide to functional specifications and had a go based on his example yet I can&#x27;t help but feel that my attempt is amateurish and embarrassing.<p>Can anybody point me in the direction of a professional specification that I can use for inspiration or give me some pointers - What exactly is expected from a person or company when a client agrees to spend big money on a project.<p>Thank you.
======
GFischer
Hmm. I've never seen a requirements document for a 6-figure contract.

I have seen some for low 5-figure ones though.

One starting point could be the IEEE standards (IEEE 830 and 1233)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_requirements_specifica...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_requirements_specification)

[http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/cs401/IEEE830.pdf](http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/cs401/IEEE830.pdf)

although it's old and superseded

[http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159274/what-s...](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159274/what-
standard-superseded-830-1998)

According to Stack Overflow

 _" 29148:2011 standard seems to replace the IEEE 830:1998."_

There are also plenty of books on requirements, like for example:

 _Mastering the Requirements Process Second Edition by Suzanne Robertson,
James Robertson (published by Addison Wesley Professional )_

Edit: hopefully there are people here on HN that routinely either write or
receive requirements documents of that magnitude and can help you more than I
do :)

------
brd
I've handled my fair share of large scale functional specs (not as a
freelancer though) and I've gone through the process of drafting a 6 figure
SOW before. I don't have any examples to give you but if you'd like some
feedback/guidance I can potentially help. Feel free to contact me (email in
profile) if you're interesting.

~~~
ismail
"created: 1337 days ago" awesome!

