Why Asking Why Before Answering Helps Build Better Debugging Tools
Ask why before answering to uncover the real user need and avoid building unnecessary features.
Apply the XY‑problem technique: before answering a user’s request, ask clarifying questions to uncover the underlying goal.
Summary
Perfetto, Google’s performance debugging tool, lacks an easy way to split a large trace into multiple files, a problem that often leads users to ask for a split feature. The author argues that the real issue is not the lack of a split function but the underlying reason users collect long traces: they want to isolate periods of interest or improve visualization. Perfetto already offers periodic trace snapshots, which can replace a single long trace and avoid the need for splitting. By asking “what’s leading you to collect traces large enough to want to split?” developers can uncover that the real need is for shorter, focused recordings. The article also recounts how ad‑hoc UI customization requests created technical debt, prompting the team to design a plugin API after realizing the need for personalization without affecting other users. Additionally, the team delayed implementing trace merging until they had a maintainable solution, illustrating the value of waiting for a proper design rather than rushing a quick fix.
Key changes
- Perfetto lacks a built‑in trace‑splitting feature.
- Users often request splits because they need to isolate periods of interest in long traces.
- Perfetto already supports periodic trace snapshots that can replace a single long trace.
- The article promotes the XY‑problem technique: ask clarifying questions before answering.
- Ad‑hoc UI customization requests led to technical debt, prompting a plugin API design.
- Trace merging was delayed until a maintainable solution was built, showing the benefit of waiting for proper design.