Structured-Prompt-Driven Development (SPDD)

Structured Prompt-Driven Development (SPDD) is an engineering methodology developed by Thoughtworks that treats prompts as first-class, version-controlled delivery artifacts. The core framework is the REASONS Canvas — a seven-part structure covering Requirements, Entities, Approach, Structure, Operations, Norms, and Safeguards — which guides LLM code generation within defined boundaries. The workflow enforces a closed loop: when reality diverges from intent, the prompt is updated first, then the code. A full end-to-end example walks through enhancing a billing engine, covering story generation, analysis, structured prompt creation, code generation, feature verification, refactoring, and unit test generation. Three key developer skills are identified: abstraction-first design, intent alignment, and iterative review. SPDD is most valuable for scaled standardized delivery and high-compliance environments, and less suited for exploratory spikes or one-off scripts.