How to Write a Spec for Your AI Project
Get Started With Your AI Project
As a reader of the AI Business Report, you probably have a vested interest in entering the artificial intelligence sphere, if you haven’t done so already. However, when it comes to creating your own AI project, it can be challenging to know where to start, and you may even feel intimidated by the idea of AI development. Fortunately, all you really need to get started is an idea.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can take your idea and flesh it out in such a way that’s understandable to developers and designers with the help of a project specification. We’ll also explain the steps to take when writing your spec, ensuring you kick-off your AI project with confidence.
What Is a Project Spec?
A project specification is a management document that outlines the project as a whole, providing a comprehensive overview of required features, user permissions, scope, and often time or cost estimates. It is then used as a reference point throughout development in order to guide developers, designers, and managers in the right direction, which typically leads to satisfied clients.
Without a project specification, you risk a lack of cohesion in development and understanding across your team, leading to a subpar project. For example, relying on sporadic pieces of unclear documentation means that some team members might interpret the project in different ways, causing a confused and unfocused development that will cost more time and money than necessary.
In other words, a properly outlined project specification is crucial for any development to be completed successfully, especially when dealing with complex technology like artificial intelligence.
Why You Should Write a Spec for Your AI Project
We touched on a number of reasons as to why you should write a spec for your AI project, in the above section; however, for clarity (an essential part of any spec), let’s discuss some of the top benefits that come from writing a project specification.
Clear Direction: A project specification allows you and your development team to work toward common goals, steering the project in a clear direction. Without it, development will be confusing and the final product will suffer as a result.
Concept Cohesion: By writing a project spec, you can facilitate concept cohesion among team members and ensure everyone remains on the same page. This will help to create a product that meets your expectations.
Fewer Cracks in Which to Slip: It’s easy for tasks to slip through the cracks when building complex projects, but project specs help to reduce the chances of this happening. Having a general overview of the project and its features enables developers to effectively keep on top of functionality.
How to Write a Spec for Your AI Project
Now that you understand the importance of specifications, let’s explore the process of writing one for your own AI project. As some may find it daunting, we’ve broken the spec writing process down into four digestible steps for you to follow.
Identify Best AI Model: When building an artificial intelligence-based project, you’ll need to start by identifying which AI model you wish to use. If you’re working with a development team, you can ask them for advice if you’re uncertain–but, remember, your choice of AI model will likely impact your available functionality. Choosing a computer vision model, for instance, will give you image processing capabilities, while a large language model provides human-like chat functionality.
Outline User Permissions: Now, it’s time to put pen to paper, so to speak, and outline your user permissions. This will involve listing which types of users your system will feature and what permissions each type will have. For example, you may have admin users who have access to a management portal and regular users with access to a customer-facing portal. By outlining this information, you can ultimately build a picture of your intended product, as all available functionality should be listed by breaking down each user.
Clarify Features: You’ll then need to clarify these functions by adding detail to each user permission. A simple way to do this is by bullet-pointing functionality and using sub-bullet points to add more detail. For this, your notes should be easy to understand, direct, and contain only essential information.
Define Scope: Finally, once you’ve outlined all your features, you can define your final scope. This means assessing the scale of work in real terms by determining a time frame, hourly estimates per feature, and the overall cost of development. If you’re working with a development team, you should ask them to assess time and cost commitments for each feature. It’s also a good idea to get estimates from multiple people to provide you with a more balanced view.
Next Steps After Writing a Project Spec
Once you’ve created a specification for your AI project, you can then set about building it. If you have the technological understanding to do so, go ahead and start developing it yourself. Otherwise, you might consider hiring expert artificial intelligence developers, like Idea Maker–the company behind AI Business Report.
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AI Business Report is brought to you by Californian development agency, Idea Maker.