The specification gap
When an onshore developer gets a vague ticket, they walk over to the product manager's desk and ask questions. When an offshore developer gets the same ticket, they wait 8-12 hours for answers — then the PM clarifies, but the developer has follow-ups, and another 8-12 hours pass. A task that would take 2 days co-located takes 5 days distributed.
The solution isn't more meetings. It's better specifications. A well-written requirements document eliminates 80% of cross-timezone back-and-forth.
The requirements template
Section 1: Context (2-3 paragraphs)
Start with why, not what. Your offshore developer needs to understand the business context to make good micro-decisions throughout implementation.
Context
We're losing 23% of users during the checkout flow (see analytics screenshot). User research indicates the primary drop-off point is the shipping address step. This feature aims to reduce checkout abandonment by 30% by introducing address autocomplete and a simplified single-page checkout.
Section 2: User stories with acceptance criteria
Not just "As a user, I want to checkout." Break it down into testable scenarios:
User Story 1: Address Autocomplete
As a returning customer, I want my shipping address to auto-populate so that I can complete checkout in under 60 seconds.
Acceptance Criteria:
- ☐ Google Places API integration for address suggestions
- ☐ Suggestions appear after 3 characters typed
- ☐ Selected address populates street, city, state, zip
- ☐ Manual entry remains available for international addresses
- ☐ Works on mobile (touch-friendly dropdown)
Edge Cases:
- PO Box addresses should be accepted
- Military (APO/FPO) addresses should be supported
- If Google API is unavailable, gracefully fall back to manual entry
Section 3: Technical specifications
Be explicit about architectural decisions. Don't assume your offshore team will make the same choices you would:
Technical Specs
- API: Google Places API (key in Vault, project: checkout-service)
- Backend: New endpoint POST /api/v2/checkout (see API contract below)
- Database: Add
address_metadataJSONB column toorderstable - Caching: Cache address lookups for 24h in Redis
- Rate limiting: 100 requests/min per user (Google API quota: 10K/day)
- Feature flag:
checkout_v2_enabled(LaunchDarkly)
API Contract
POST /api/v2/checkout
- Request: { shipping_address: {...}, billing_same: boolean, ... }
- Response: { order_id: string, estimated_delivery: date, ... }
- Error: { code: string, message: string, field?: string }
Section 4: UI/UX specifications
Screenshots, Figma links, or annotated wireframes. Call out specific interactions:
- Loading states: What does the user see while the address API is called?
- Error states: What happens if the API times out? If the address is invalid?
- Empty states: What does a new user with no saved addresses see?
- Responsive behavior: How does the layout change on mobile?
Section 5: Out of scope (critical for offshore)
Explicitly state what this task does NOT include. Offshore teams sometimes over-build because they're unsure of boundaries:
Out of Scope
- International address validation (separate Phase 2 task)
- Saved address management (existing feature, don't modify)
- Payment method changes (separate PR)
- Email notification changes (handled by notification service team)
Section 6: Definition of done
Definition of Done
- ☐ All acceptance criteria met
- ☐ Unit tests (>80% coverage for new code)
- ☐ Integration tests for API endpoints
- ☐ E2E test for happy path checkout flow
- ☐ Feature flag works correctly (on/off)
- ☐ PR description includes screenshots of mobile + desktop
- ☐ Performance: page loads in <2s on 3G
- ☐ Accessibility: keyboard navigable, screen reader compatible
- ☐ No console errors or warnings
The 30-minute rule
A good requirements document takes 30-60 minutes to write. A vague one takes 30 seconds — and costs 10-20 hours of back-and-forth over the next two weeks. The math is simple: invest the 30 minutes upfront.
Your offshore team will be more productive, more aligned, and more confident. And you'll spend your overlap hours on strategic discussions instead of clarifying ambiguous tickets.
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