How to Start

"I have no idea where to begin." The loop that turns that sentence into a next question, and the technology-first reflex it replaces.

I Have No Idea Where to Begin
▶ lab

"Build an e-commerce store" is not a task, it is a sentence. Before any technology, ask what it means: who uses it, what they do, what data exists, what must persist, what can wait — until the smallest useful version is visible and the next question is obvious.

Q · Someone hands you "build an e-commerce store" and you have never built one. What do you do in the first hour, and how do you know it was the right hour?
What Am I Actually Trying to Achieve?

Before "how", answer "what for": what will be different when this is done, for whom, and how would we tell? A goal you can check is the difference between building the store and building a store.

Q · You have been asked to build something and you can describe it, but not what it is for. How do you find the goal behind the request, and how do you know you have found it?
The Problem-Solving Loop
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Problem → Understand → Requirements → Constraints → Unknowns → Decomposition → Smallest Useful Step → Model → Experiment / Implement → Observe → Debug → Learn → Iterate. Not a template — a map that says where you are and what comes next.

Q · You are somewhere in the middle of a problem and cannot tell whether you are making progress or just moving. What is the loop, where are you in it, and what does it say to do next?
Technology-First Thinking

"I want to build e-commerce" → React, Next, Postgres, Redis, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes — a reflex, not a plan. Recognise it, understand why it feels like progress, and replace it with Problem → Requirements → Data → Workflows → Scale → Architecture → Technology.

Q · The first thing you did with the new problem was choose a stack, and it felt productive. How do you recognise the technology-first reflex in yourself, and what is the sequence that goes in its place?
Problem Before Technology
▶ lab

A technology is an answer. Before accepting one, find the question: what requirement it serves, what simpler thing meets it, what it costs to run, and what would have to be true for it to be the right call. The Why Ladder, applied to "we need Redis".

Q · A technology has been proposed — by you, a colleague, or the last article you read. How do you find the problem it is supposed to solve, decide whether that problem exists, and choose between it and the simpler thing?
The Next Question

The domain's promise in one move: from "I have no idea" to "I know the next question I need to answer". Progress on an unfamiliar problem is measured in questions sharpened, not features shipped.

Q · You do not know how to solve this and cannot see a path to knowing. What is the one thing you can always produce from that state, and how do you make sure it is the right thing?
Understanding Is Not Delegable

Documentation, search, AI, books, examples, libraries and frameworks all accelerate understanding, and the line is that none of them can replace it. The good tool-use loop, the Problem → Ask AI → Copy → Hope loop, and how to tell which one you are in.

Q · You have every tool — docs, search, an AI assistant, a framework that does most of it — and the problem is still yours. What do the tools do for you, what can they not do, and how do you use them without ending up unable to work without them?