Why Planning Matters More Than Code
The best websites aren't built by the fastest coders — they're built by the best planners. Here's why I spend more time thinking than typing.
I've seen developers jump straight into code the moment a client says 'I need a website.' Two weeks later, they're rebuilding half of it because they didn't think through the requirements. I used to be that developer.
Now, I spend the first 20-30% of every project purely on planning. What are the business goals? Who's the audience? What's the user journey? What pages do we actually need? What's the content strategy? These questions save more time than any framework or tool.
Planning also means choosing the right technical approach upfront. Not every project needs Next.js. Not every landing page needs a full React app. Sometimes a well-structured Vite project is faster to build and easier to maintain. The right tool for the right job.
When I use AI tools in my workflow, the planning phase becomes even more critical. AI is only as good as the direction you give it. A vague prompt produces vague code. A precise, well-architected prompt produces clean, production-ready components. The planning IS the prompt engineering.
My clients consistently tell me they're surprised by how smooth the process feels. That's not luck — it's because the hard thinking happened before the first line of code was written. Plan twice, build once.