When I begin a project, I want to understand what question we need to answer. Having a clear question gives me a framework. It helps me see what information matters, what to look into, and how to evaluate possible solutions.

That sounds obvious. Yet it is easy to start working before we understand what the work needs to accomplish.

I first noticed this while learning to solve word problems in school. I used to memorize a set of steps. For problems I recognized, this worked: spot the pattern, follow the steps, and get the answer.

But when a problem looked different, I got stuck. I knew how to follow steps, but I didn’t always know which ones to use.

Eventually, I learned to stop and break the problem down:

· What do I know?

· What am I trying to find?

· What can I work out from the information available?

· What information is missing?

At first, this took longer than jumping straight into calculations. But with practice, it helped me feel more confident with new problems. I had a way to start, even if I didn’t know the answer yet.

That habit has stayed with me far beyond math.

When I work on a project, I spend a lot of time trying to understand what’s going on. What’s happening with the product? What do the data and financial results show? What are customers saying? What has the team already tried? What does the company want to achieve, and what resources are available?

These questions help me define the problem before deciding what to do next.

For example, asking “How can we get more people to notice this product?” leads to different choices than asking “What stops interested people from buying it?” Both questions start with a sales concern, but they lead to different research and actions.

Seeing the difference between these questions takes patience. It means looking over information, checking for gaps, and sometimes realizing the first question needs to change.

I get why people want to skip this step. Starting a campaign or making something feels like progress. Research can seem slow, especially when there’s pressure to get results.

However, in my experience, working without a clear plan also takes time. We end up repeating tasks, rethinking decisions, and sometimes realize too late that we were solving the wrong problem. The time we thought we saved gets spent fixing our mistakes.

I don’t expect to know everything before I act. Some questions only get answered by trying things out. What matters is having enough clarity to know what we’re testing and what the results will help us decide.