> We had a breakthrough when we discovered that our customer had a specific purpose in mind I don't mean to shame the authors with this cherry-picked partial q

> We had a breakthrough when we discovered that our customer had a specific purpose in mind I don't mean to shame the authors with this cherry-picked partial quote, because I've fallen into the same trap. We're a profession that delights in the abstract, and it is very easy to find oneself building castles in the air. From the naming of variables and methods, to the structure of data at rest, or (as in the context of the article) the paths of navigation through a UI, purpose must infuse every decision we make, and in analysing what has gone before, the question of why is invariably the most enlightening. This is not the only consideration that matters, but I have always found it a mistake to treat it as anything but the most consequential.