# Begin with a useful change

Source: https://segern.com/practice/begin-with-a-useful-change

Name what should become better, and for whom.

A feature is not yet a reason to build. Neither is an opportunity to use a new technology, enter a fashionable market, or make something that looks impressive in a presentation.

We begin with a person and a situation. What are they trying to do? What gets in the way? What would become possible if we resolved it well? The answer gives the work a purpose against which scope, effort, and success can be judged.

We stay close enough to the people affected to let their experience correct our assumptions. Requests, complaints, observation, and commercial evidence each tell us something different. A request is worth understanding even when the requested solution is not the right one.

That understanding also helps us choose where to compete. We would rather serve a particular need with depth than collect features to appear comparable with everyone else. A narrow audience can still deserve a complete experience. Small scope should not mean leaving people to assemble the missing pieces themselves.

The useful change might be a better product. It might be a clearer decision, a simpler offer, or a project stopped before it consumes another quarter.

*What should become meaningfully better if this work succeeds?*