Garbage in, garbage out: My vibe-coding pre-flight checklist

👟 Topic: Garbage in, garbage out: My vibe-coding pre-flight checklist

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Last week, I shared a survey asking job seekers what they struggle with most in networking. The responses have been gold, but I’d love to hear from more of you.

If you haven't filled out the survey yet, please do. It takes 2 minutes, and you’ll get first dibs when it’s ready for testing.

I haven't written a single line of code for my networking app yet.

And honestly? That's exactly how it should be.

A week ago, I would've jumped straight into Cursor, thrown some vague prompts at Claude Code, and hoped for the best. Then, when the AI inevitably produced garbage, I'd blame the robot.

But here's what I've learned: If your machine spits out garbage, it was probably fed garbage.

The prompt determines the output quality. Always.

So instead of rushing into my IDE this week, I've been living in Google Docs and LLM chats with Claude (not Claude Code, just their regular chat interface). Planning. Researching. Thinking.

Because the difference between AI that builds something useful and AI that wastes your time? It's not the tool. It's the context you give it.

Here's my 3-step pre-coding process that's kept me from building the wrong thing.

The first thing I did was create a new Claude project specifically for this networking app.

Why does this matter? Context.

When you're jumping between conversations about your weekend plans, random coding questions, and your actual app development, the AI loses the thread. It doesn't know what "this app" means anymore.

A dedicated project keeps everything contained. Every conversation, every iteration, every decision lives in one place. Claude remembers what we discussed three days ago about user behavior. It knows what features we've already ruled out.

Think of it like this: Would you plan a product launch in a Slack channel that also discusses lunch orders? Probably not.

Claude's Sonnet model is smart on its own, but AI works best when you give it a role to play.

So I told Claude exactly who it is: an expert founder and product strategist who's built successful networking tools before. Someone who thinks critically about user behavior and can spot bad assumptions.

I also fed it context about my background

Now, every time I ask a question, Claude responds with that lens. It doesn't just answer "How should users input their goals?" It answers considering what my users actually need and how they already behave.

I spent days just... asking questions:

↳ "What are job seekers struggling with most in the networking process?"
↳ "How do people currently approach cold outreach?"
↳ "What tools do they already use, and why do those tools fail them?"

But here's the key insight I discovered: Apps that force users to learn new behaviors have a higher chance of failing.

Think about it. If your app requires someone to completely change how they network, they probably won't use it. But if your app fits into their existing workflow and just makes it 10x easier? That's adoption.

So I'm not asking "What cool features can I build?" I'm asking "What are people already doing that I can make effortless?"

That mindset shift changes everything.

Once my PRD’s done, I'll start coding.

And when I do, Claude Code won't be guessing. It'll have a complete roadmap of exactly what to build, who it's for, and why it matters.

No garbage in. No garbage out.

That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this post, share it with a friend!

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See you next Tuesday 🤝

-Michael Ly

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