When PG Wodehouse was asked what the secret of writing was, he replied that it’s to apply the seat of your trousers to the surface of your chair.
In software, the secret is the opposite. It’s to remove the seat of your trousers from the surface of your chair. At least, remove the tips of your fingers from the surface of your keyboard. Go out and talk to users; get a pencil and paper and sketch; take a long walk and think. But don’t code.
In addition, writing good software takes time, effort, and practice. As I discuss in my post (link below) a very important part of the development process is learning what works and what doesn’t in any given situation. What may work for one customer may not work for another. Understanding their needs doesn’t help one bit when two solutions are viable – only the past experience to dictate which one is the best option will suffice here.
http://www.mcdonaldland.info/2008/01/16/when-the-rabbit-hole-is-a-dead-end/