As developers, we're often eager to start coding the solution. The problem is, sometimes, we start with the solution in mind, but we're not clear as to what the problem is.

I often see myself wondering what's the cleanest way of implementing what I have in mind: but I soon realize I'm focusing so much on the implementation details that I've almost forgotten why it is that I want to implement a certain functionality.

When I focus too much on the implementation, the purpose of the functionality starts to become less concrete and I almost forget what the value I wanted to deliver to my users was.

I've seen this happen in many situations. User stories specified starting with the How rather than the Why. They, deliberately or inadvertently, mandate a specific implementation. But, in doing so, I think they dramatically reduce the possibilities of really delivering something valuable to the user.

Try start with the Why, instead. Why do you want to build this feature? What is it that you want your users to be able to achieve? By doing this exercise I often find that the implementation that was originally suggested wasn't really the best way to help the user achieve the intended outcome.

What's your take on this philosophical matter?

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