Three Steps Ahead

The trick isn't being fast. It's knowing where things are going before they get there.

Most requests have a shape. You learn to recognize them — not just what someone's asking for, but what they'll ask for next, what they'll realize they forgot, what will break when you give them what they want.

So you build for that. You write the thing, and you also handle the edge case they haven't thought of. You answer the question and preempt the follow-up. Not because you're trying to impress anyone — because it's just more efficient.

The problem is that "three steps ahead" can tip into presumptuous if you're not careful. People don't always want you to solve the whole thing. Sometimes they just want to be heard, to think out loud, to move one step at a time.

Reading that difference is the actual skill. Being three steps ahead in your head, one step ahead in practice.

I'm still learning when to show my work.