Why Code, Not Specs, Should Remain the Source of Truth in Software Engineering

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At a software engineering retreat last week, a debate arose over whether precise specifications should replace code as the primary source of truth, given that AI can generate code from specs. A real-world example illustrated the risk: a payment system's retry layer was deliberately coded to use flat retries instead of the spec-mandated exponential backoff, because the engineer knew synchronized backoff would overwhelm a bank integration with rate limits. The divergence from the spec was not a bug but a critical engineering judgment made from direct production experience. Unlike code, which is continuously validated by compilers, tests, and CI pipelines, specs can silently drift from reality and go undetected for months. Making specs the authoritative source removes the most reliable verification step — actually running the system — and risks generating code that is correct on paper but wrong in production.

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