When a Solution Is Proposed Before the Problem Is Defined

A common requirements engineering failure occurs when a specific solution is proposed before the underlying problem has been properly identified. In the example discussed, management's goal to sell more coconuts quickly led to a proposal for a faster cracking machine, without first establishing whether cracking capacity was actually the bottleneck. The danger is that a concrete, plausible proposal can create the false impression that requirements work has already been completed. As a result, a solution can be fully built and verified while the original business objective remains unaddressed. The recommended fix is to first reconstruct the chain from objective to problem to need, then evaluate any existing proposals against that established need rather than discarding them outright.