Salt at the end is a correction. Salt at the start is a plan.

Where in a process you make a choice determines whether it counts as design or as repair. Decisions made early get absorbed by everything that follows, while the same decision made late can only sit on the surface. A small amount of thinking at the start outperforms a great deal of adjustment afterwards.

Before your next piece of work, spend ten minutes on what you want it to be rather than fixing it later. Ask what you would have to decide now to avoid the usual rescue at the end. Corrections will still be needed, and there will be fewer.