Spec first: spec-driven development for SAP ABAP

This article explains spec-driven development (SDD) for SAP ABAP, an approach that prioritizes writing detailed specifications before AI-generated code to preserve development decisions and improve maintainability.

• Vibe coding generates code quickly but loses context and development rationale, making future modifications difficult
• Spec-driven development captures requirements, design decisions, and implementation details before code generation
• ABAP specs should define object type, inputs/outputs, business rules, error handling, and SAP-specific decisions
• AI-Driven Development Lifecycle (AI-DLC) structures work into Inception (spec creation), Construction (code generation and testing), and Operations (deployment)
• Steering files contain team-wide standards like naming conventions and approved libraries, loaded automatically in each session
• Specs persist after deployment and serve as documentation for future changes and maintenance
• AWS Coding Plugin for SAP ABAP implements SDD through Markdown files capturing requirements, design, and tasks

Spec-driven development enables ABAP teams to modernize code systematically while maintaining clear documentation of what was built and why.