Should I focus on the impressive technical implementation, or on what users actually need?

This is a classic question, one that almost every tech professional asks themselves repeatedly at some stage.

Let me give you an analogy, it's like being a chef.

Do you want to be a "molecular gastronomy master" or a "master chef at a street-side diner"?

"Cool technological implementations" are like molecular gastronomy. You've just learned about liquid nitrogen, sous vide, and foam techniques, and you're incredibly excited, wanting to make every dish look incomprehensible to others. You create a "48-hour sous vide Australian wagyu with caviar foam." This dish is technically brilliant, looks incredibly impressive, and would definitely get a lot of likes on social media. But the question is, who will eat it? How much will it be priced? Beyond satisfying your own creative urge and technical exploration, can it truly survive as a core dish in a restaurant?

On the other hand, "what users truly need" is like the "scrambled eggs with tomatoes" or "fish-flavored shredded pork" made by the master chef at a street-side diner. Is the technique used for these dishes simple? Extremely simple, with no technical barriers. Is it cool? Not at all. But the master chef knows that office workers just want a cheap, fast, and satisfying home-cooked meal for lunch. He cooks this simplest of dishes better than anyone else, with perfect heat control and seasoning. The result is that his small diner is packed every day, and people willingly queue up just for that taste of "comfort."

You see, the difference emerges:

One is "what I can do," starting from "me," from the technology itself. I've mastered AI, so I'm going to do an AI project; I've learned blockchain, so I'm going to build something decentralized. This is like having a hammer and looking for a nail.

The other is "what others need," starting from the "user," from the problem itself. Users find accounting too troublesome, so I'll create an app that allows voice-based accounting; small businesses find inventory management a headache, so I'll build a minimalist inventory management tool. This is about finding the right hammer for the nail.

This isn't to say that pursuing cool technology is wrong. Many great products precisely use the coolest technology to solve the most fundamental user needs, like using AI recommendation algorithms to keep you hooked on TikTok.

The key lies in your "first step."

Did you first fall in love with the craft of "molecular gastronomy" and then start figuring out what dishes to make? Or did you first see the demand for "delicious home-cooked meals" and then delve into how to make the best scrambled eggs, perhaps even innovatively using a tiny bit of "molecular gastronomy" technique to improve the texture?

Simply put, ask yourself: for your project, stripping away all the trendy tech jargon, can you explain it in one sentence to a complete non-tech novice, and will they understand what trouble it's helping them solve?

If, after hearing it, their eyes light up and they say, "Hey! I have exactly that problem!", then you're likely on the right track.

If, after hearing it, they look confused and ask, "So... what is 'decentralization'? What is 'federated learning'?", then you might need to be careful; you might just be making an expensive, un-ordered "molecular gastronomy" dish.