The cognitive dissonance comes from the tension between the-spec-as-management-artifact vs the-spec-as-engineering-artifact. Author is right that advocates are selling the first but second is the only one which works.

For a manager, the spec exists in order to create a delgation ticket, something you assign to someone and done. But for a builder, it exists as a thinking tool that evolves with the code to sharpen the understanding/thinking.

I also think, that some builders are being fooled into thinking like managers because ease, but they figure it out pretty quickly.