Lexicon · Failure Modes

spec-code drift

[ spek-kohd drift ]noun

What builds up when the code keeps changing and the written plan does not.

Explanation

Invisible until it is expensive. The plan stops describing the thing, and everybody keeps reading it anyway.

spec-driven development — Writing the plan down properly first and treating it as the real thing, with the code as something generated from it and checked against it.
context rot — When something you said early in a long session quietly stops counting.