Many of my clients are enterprise B2B startups and scaleups.

In a recent conversation with one of them, they were about to embark on a new major project, and I wanted to start by outlining why we are doing it.

My client, the VP of Product, pushed back. He said that their CEO and sales team had already defined exactly what needed to be built, based on customer conversations and contractual commitments. Everything is already decided. What’s the point?

That moment captures a trap I see all the time.

When the what is fixed, the why feels redundant, almost like a luxury conversation. But skipping it is costly. Even when nothing can change at the top level, talking about the why shapes how people think, what details they prioritize, and how aligned the organization feels around the work.

Here’s why the why still matters, even and especially when it seems unnecessary.

The “why” refines the solution

Even when everything seems well-defined, it rarely is. The scope might be agreed upon, the timeline fixed, and the customer contract signed, but underneath that apparent clarity lie hundreds of open questions. There might be no flexibility to renegotiate the project, but there is still plenty of space and a real need to define what it actually means.

The difference between delivering what was asked for and achieving the goal often lies in these gray areas. Many product teams have experienced that painful moment of doing exactly what was decided, only to realize it didn’t make the impact they hoped for. That’s because not everything was ever truly defined.

And in those details that still need to be figured out – namely, the flows, the edge cases, the tradeoffs, the “why” becomes your guide. It’s what ensures that every small decision moves you closer to the real outcome, not just toward checking a box on a plan.

The “why” connects the dots for everyone

Those many details that still need to be decided are not limited to product and engineering. Marketing, sales, customer success, and even operations all face their own small but important decisions that depend on understanding the bigger picture. The problem is that they are usually not in a position to take a step back and define the “why.” Not because someone would stop them, but because that’s not how they usually operate. That’s on us.

When we as product leaders articulate the “why,” we create that missing bridge for everyone. I once worked with a VP of Product who was instructed by the CEO to build a platform. When we defined the “why,” the CEO said, “I don’t hear anything new.” But the rest of the management team came to the VP and said, “Finally! Thank you for explaining why we’re doing this. We now get it.”

That moment of clarity didn’t change the plan, but it changed the energy around it. The work finally made sense. Everyone could see how their piece fit into the larger picture and could refine their hundreds of follow-up decisions to align with the goal and not just the instructions.

The “why” turns compliance into ownership

As a product manager, you get instructions all the time. Everyone has opinions about what you should do. But if you take those instructions as they are, you’re left powerless. You become the executor of someone else’s thinking instead of the driver of the outcome.

To regain power, you need to make it your own. 

But it’s not just for you and your feeling good. The person who gave you the instructions will appreciate it too. When you take ownership, they don’t need to figure out every little detail or supervise you along the way. They can trust that you understand the intent and will do what’s needed to reach the goal.

Ownership, in this context, isn’t about titles or formal responsibility. The word itself says it: to own something, you have to make it your own. That means being able to explain the “why” as if it were your idea to begin with. Writing it down forces that level of understanding. 

Make it a habit to always explain the why in your own words, and don’t stop until you agree with every word in your explanation. After all, it’s yours now.

The VP of Product I mentioned at the beginning was right about one thing. The plan was already set. But once the “why” was clear, everything changed around it: the details, the energy, the sense of ownership. Talking about the “why” doesn’t challenge authority. It builds alignment, sharpens decisions, and turns execution into leadership. That’s why, even when it feels redundant, you must always talk about the why.