Question That Stopped Me From Building Something Stupid

I had a feature planned. Detailed spec, sketches, the whole thing ready to go.

Before I started I asked one person a single question. What would you use this for?

They paused. Then they said they probably would not use it. They already solved that problem another way. Then they described the other way, which was simpler than anything I had planned.

Twenty minutes of conversation saved two weeks of work. Not because they had wisdom I did not, but because they had a context I could not see. They lived the problem. I only imagined it.

I almost did not ask them. I had already convinced myself. Asking felt like risk, because the answer might have killed my plan, and the plan was comfortable.

Have you ever been saved by one question? And do you ask it early, or only after you have already decided?