[ineedasername]

>> customer comes to you asking for a 1/4” drill (a solution). Their stated problem may be the need for a 1/4” hole, but what they’re really after is the ability to hang a picture

Yes, this. I began delivering much better solutions when I began incorporating, "okay, I can build that, but what do you want to do with it?" at the very beginning of any requests I receive. I'd say it's about 50/50 on whether the initial request would would meet the desire completely, or fail in part or in whole.

[floatrock]

This blog post (and your key question) is basically "how to avoid that what-the-customer-really-wants tree swing image".

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+the+customer+wants+swin...

It's about asking the kind of questions that get at the heart of what's valuable to your customer.

[ineedasername]

That's a great visual, I may actually use that in training both other developers and when begining large projects with constituents.