Early in my career, I worked at a company that sold employment solutions to colleges. During one sales meet, our sales head asked us a simple question:
What's more important — intent or mechanism?
The room split. Some said both matter. Some said you can't achieve anything without either. But that wasn't the question. The question was which one matters more.
After hearing everyone out, he shared a story that stuck with me. First, he defined the two:
Intent is the wish to do something. Mechanism is how you do it. Simply put: intent is the why, mechanism is the how.
Scenario 1
You are trained on how to break a wall. You have all the tools. You know the technique. Now ask yourself — will you go around breaking every wall you see? Of course not. Because the intent isn't there. The why isn't clear.
This is the point: if the right intent is missing, the mechanism doesn't matter.
Scenario 2
Now flip it. You don't know how to break a wall. You don't have any tools. But your family is trapped behind a wall during a fire.
Your intent is clear. You need to save them. No matter what. You'll punch the wall. You'll hurt yourself. You'll look for anything that might help. You'll figure it out.
Why? Because the why is strong enough to force a how.
Intent matters more than mechanism.
If you start with a clear why, the how follows. It may be messy. It may be inefficient. But it shows up.
Before you start building something. Before you worry about tools, processes, or systems. Ask yourself one question first: What is my why?