Nothing here is exclusive to programming, in fact this isn’t exclusive to engineering even. Formulating a clear problem statement is applicable to essentially

Nothing here is exclusive to programming, in fact this isn’t exclusive to engineering even. Formulating a clear problem statement is applicable to essentially every field and I would argue is probably the hardest thing to master and what most people fail at. At least personally the most improvement I have experienced in formulating a problem statement had nothing to do with actual technical work but rather when I worked in professional services and had to come up with new service offerings, writing up proposals and managing stakeholders. Formulating a problem is definitely a soft skill that I would say most purely technical programs don’t teach that well, quite often because you are given the problem statement to solve. This is also true for technical work and why some people might find it hard to progress in their careers. I’ve met plenty of brilliant and highly experienced engineers that suffer from major tunnel vision and couldn’t see the forest for the trees.