I built the wrong thing for a client and it taught me to ask why first
Early in my BA work, a client asked me to build a simple report dashboard. I jumped straight into gathering data fields and designing tables. Two weeks later I showed them the first version and they looked confused. Turns out they didn't need a dashboard at all. They needed a way to remind staff about pending tasks, mostly via SMS because most of their field workers were on basic phones. I had spent time building the "how" without asking the "why" first. That mistake cost me two weeks and a bit of trust. Now I always start with one simple question: what decision will this help you make, or what problem are you really trying to solve? If they can't answer that clearly, I keep asking until we get there. For anyone starting out, especially if you're learning to build things, remember that the hardest part isn't the code or the tool. It's understanding the person on the other side. Ask questions like you're chatting with a friend over chapati and beans. It saves you time, money, and the embarrassment of delivering something nobody asked for.
