Systematic Debugging for Django

Core Principle

NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE FIRST

Never apply patches that mask underlying problems. Understand WHY something fails before attempting to fix it.

Four-Phase Framework

Phase 1: Reproduce and Investigate

Before touching any code:

1. Write a failing test - Captures the bug behavior
2. Read error messages thoroughly - Every word matters
3. Examine recent changes - git diff, git log
4. Trace data flow - Follow the call chain to find where bad values originate