How to build the thing [Part 1: Start with what it enables]

Everything we build - tools, systems, or products - should begin with an outcome in mind.

Oct 14, 2025

Whatever you’re building, one principle comes first.

Start with what it enables for someone.

If you’re not doing that, then you’re just assembling parts in a vacuum.

That applies whether you’re talking about a design system, a new service, implementing AI tooling, or shipping a working feature to a consumer product. If you can’t say who it helps, how it helps them, what it makes possible that wasn’t possible before…it probably won’t stick. It won’t matter how elegant the architecture is, how impressive the technical implementation.

It’s the first principle in our series on building systems and tools that serve human goals. It’s the foundation we build our other principles on.

What changes because this exists?

Here are questions to ask before you write code, name components, or integrate AI.

What should people be able to do that they couldn’t do before?
What will it make easier, faster, or more consistent?
What friction does this remove?
What outcome does this unlock?

Crucially, who benefits from this, and how will they feel that benefit?

If we skip this step, we create things that feel important simply because we’re working on them! That’s seductive to the builders, irrelevant to the people they’re ultimately being built for.

Our focus is NOT “what are we building?”

It sounds like semantics, but it’s not. Our focus is:

What is made possible when this thing exists?

You’re not building a system. You’re creating the conditions for better outputs.

You’re not building a product. You’re helping someone do something better, faster, or more meaningfully.

You’re not building a pipeline. You’re giving a team confidence that their work will ship.

We start from outcomes. Everything else then flows with more clarity.

Try the “Who/What/Wow” model

I learned this framing at IBM, and it’s deceptively simple.

“This thing will allow [who] to do [what] in a way that [wows them].”

It forces clarity. It centers people on the purpose. It’s a great gut-check for if your work is valuable, or if it just exists. And the demand for a “wow” encourages us to push for real value, not just iterative utility.

Some adapted examples:

“This AI product delivery tool helps product teams ship ten times faster than they did before.”
“A recipe app lets a home chef order all the ingredients needed for a single delivery in a single transaction.”

The point isn’t exactly getting the syntax, so much as forcing intentionality.

Start your build with one sentence

Steve Wozniak was a proponent of simplicity, exploring problems he wanted to solve.

Start with one sentence that says what this does, what it enables.

You can validate, build, explain, and iterate. Create your five-page strategy document from that first sentence.

Systems, tools, AI flows, finished products, all benefit from this grounding. If you can’t say what they enable then:

You won’t know if it worked.
Your users won’t feel the value.
Your team won’t know if it mattered.

The thing that gets you to the thing needs a reason to exist. You should start that reason here.

Robin Cannon | Stories and Signals