Andrey Agibalov There’s a moment at the start of almost any project where the problem itself isn’t fully shaped. Some parts are unclear, some assumptions don’t hold, and different people describe the same thing in different ways. It’s normal. The early stages are always a bit blurry.
The mistake is trying to find a perfect solution in that blur. The real work is much simpler: figure out what the problem cannot be. Good design starts by identifying the constraints — the boundaries you know the problem must stay within. It’s less like solving an equation and more like sketching a system of inequalities around it.
You carve away the interpretations that are impossible, contradictory, or clearly out of scope. Every “not this” removes a false version of the problem that would have led you in the wrong direction. With each cut, the shape gets clearer, even if the full picture still isn’t there.
Once those edges exist, the rest becomes much easier. A well-bounded problem naturally points you toward solutions that fit inside it. You don’t need a flash of brilliance. You just need the discipline to remove the shapes the problem cannot take.
Most engineering failures don’t come from choosing the wrong answer. They come from starting with a problem that was never shaped well enough to avoid the wrong ones. Design begins by pruning — and the pruning starts with the problem, not the solution.