> But that’s because usually there is no trustworthy spec

This is the key - most of our writing on modern software comes from people building things with requirements that are unclear. There are pockets of the software world where detailed specs work wonders.

One of my professors in college had made a career writing these sorts of specs in a certain niche of robotics. It'd worked fabulously for him precisely because nothing was new or innovative, it just required exacting craftsmanship.