Comment by MrDunham

This is the correct answer. I like to go one step further than the root comment:

Nearly all of my "agents" are required to ask at least three clarifying questions before they're allowed to do anything (code, write a PRD, write an email newsletter, etc)

Force it to ask one at a time and it's event better, though not as step-function VS if it went off your initial ask.

I think the reason is exactly what you state @7thpower: it takes a lot of thinking to really provide enough context and direction to an LLM, especially (in my opinion) because they're so cheap and require no social capital cost (vs asking a colleague / employee—where if you have them work for a week just to throw away all their work it's a very non-zero cost).