I still remember the first time I opened Vim. Within seconds, I was stuck. My code was fine, but I couldn’t even figure out how to quit the editor. The irony was brutal; I wasn’t blocked by a bug, but by the tool itself.

Later in my career, I built one of my first desktop apps in Java Swing. It came together fast; drag-and-drop components, a runnable app in no time. But debugging it was a nightmare. Every fix felt like fumbling in the dark because I hadn’t thought through the design. I was vibing my way through, and it showed.

Those two experiences taught me a fundamental truth: in code, as in Vim, there’s a difference between vibing and having a spec to guide you. It’s the difference between thinking short-term and thinking long-term.

The Two Paths: Short-Term Gains vs. Long-Term Sanity

Vibe Coding: The ultimate short-term play. You just start typing. You know the rough idea, so you code until it “works.” No spec, no tests, no design doc. It feels fast, like improvising a guitar riff, and it gives you that instant gratification of seeing something run. But this short-term "win" comes with a cost. You are trading future stability for present velocity. Every line of un-specced code is a future bug waiting to happen, a new layer of technical debt piled on your project.

Spec-Driven Development: This is a long-term strategy. You start with a blueprint - a written spec defining the feature, edge cases, and acceptance criteria. This feels slower at first, like sharpening your axe before you chop down the tree. You’re investing time and mental energy up front. But this initial investment pays dividends later. Debugging becomes less of a mystery, collaboration becomes a shared journey, and the codebase remains a place of order. Not chaos.

When Vibe Coding Works (Sort Of)

To be fair, vibe coding does have its moments. Quick throwaway scripts or weekend experiments often benefit from the speed of just hacking things together.

But here’s the truth: there are almost no real throwaway projects.
That one-off script gets reused. That weekend prototype gets demoed. Suddenly, the “vibe code” is running in production; and now it needs specs, tests, and documentation.

Think of It Like Vim

A vibe coder in Vim is the one who Googles “how to quit vi” every single time. They're focused on the immediate problem and nothing else.

A spec-driven dev sets up an alias so :q just works. They've invested a few seconds now to save themselves minutes (or hours) down the road. One is fighting the tool; the other is defining it.

This isn't just about Vim; it’s a mindset. Do you want to be a master of your tools, or a slave to them?

Why Specs Win in the Long Run

• Less technical debt: Specs force you to think through edge cases before they blow up in production. You solve problems on paper instead of with late-night production fixes.

• Better collaboration: Teammates (and now AI assistants) can work off a shared blueprint. You don’t need to be in the same room, or even the same time zone, to be on the same page.

• Traceability: Changed, bugs and features can be mapped back to clear requirements. No more “I thought we were supposed to do X” arguments.

• Scale-friendly: Projects grow, and so do teams. Specs prevent chaos and make it possible to onboard new members without a multi-week knowledge transfer.

GitHub recently put this into practice with their spec-driven development toolkit. AI can now generate code, tests, and even docs directly from specs, making the investment in writing them even more powerful.

Choose Your Future

Closing Thought

Next time you start a feature, ask yourself: Am I building something for right now, or am I building a foundation for the future?

Vibe coding might get you that instant hit of progress, but specs will get you a codebase (and a career) you can actually live with.

Don’t be the dev still googling how to quit Vim. Be the one who defined the tool; and defined the spec.