Problem clarity, not technology clarity

I think most people have technology clarity instead of problem clarity, especially developers. Technological clarity—such as focusing on AI for its own sake—is dangerous because it forgets to solve the actual problem.I often see today, in the AI era, everyone slapping AI into everything. But AI is technology; it's not a problem. And all these people telling you that AI is going to do this and that, you have to remember that AI was made by a person. A person who controls AI and uses it has a better understanding of the problem, so the tool itself is not the danger; the person using it is. Technology has become something that people lead with, and leading with technology is very dangerous because you end up with the notion that technology is the actual problem.

Technology is there to solve a problem. That's why we use technology to solve all the problems we've solved in the past.Also because of vibe coding, anyone can build products faster now. And because products can now be built faster, it means you need to have clarity on what to build. If you don't have clarity on what to build, you're just going to be building multiple projects and then neglecting them or forgetting about them the moment something new shows up—what you call shiny object syndrome—and you end up switching between different projects. But if you have a problem that you're solving, you'll make sure you solve that problem until it's done.

Problem clarity is crucial: it means understanding the specific problem you need to solve for a particular user, in a particular context, with particular needs, very accurately. It ensures you fully grasp the problem before tackling it, so you don’t create a solution in search of a problem. Having clarity on the problem decides what should be built, and validating the problem is essential before you start building anything.That is why we have a sales and marketing team and a product development team. All of these go hand in hand because you need people to sell the product to. Often, companies do sales before anything is actually built because they want reassurance that someone will actually pay for it. But if you lead with technology, you end up with a solution you built without talking to anyone. If you just thought up an amazing idea in your head, it becomes the central piece, and you need to connect other people to it. This is often difficult if you haven't communicated with those people about their specific workflows and how they do their jobs. Everyone works differently, so you must be able to integrate those different experiences into one experience that makes sense and solves the problem for the user in a way that is easy to implement.

Remember, everything in life takes effort, and that effort consumes time. We have limited time, so building something can take six months, and selling it can take another six months—already a whole year. On the end‑user side, integration also takes time because everyone has a limited bandwidth for information and tools. That's why most people don't switch to alternative applications; existing apps like Windows and WhatsApp already have built‑in distribution, making them easier to use. Therefore, you must build distribution. Leading the product problem is crucial because it provides clarity on how to solve and distribute the solution, allowing you to build and deliver it through the channels you’ve already established.