ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Functional specification

A functional specification is like a recipe that tells engineers what to build. It's like a step-by-step list of instructions that tells them how to build a product or make something work. The instructions usually include things like what the product should do, how it should look, and how it should work. For example, a functional specification might tell the engineers what buttons to include on a phone and how the buttons should work.