Most stalled projects are not short of effort. They are short of a shared understanding of the problem.
Starting with the why does three things. It surfaces the outcome everyone is actually trying to reach, it exposes the constraints nobody has said out loud, and it gives the team a way to judge whether an option is worth pursuing.
Ask before you answer
Bring the people doing the work into the room early. The question that unlocks a project is rarely the one on the agenda.
Align around the outcome, not the tool
Technology decisions get easier once the outcome is agreed. Pick the platform that serves the result, not the result that fits the platform.
Measure so you can adjust
Decide up front what progress looks like. Without that, every review turns into an opinion contest.
