Focus on decisions, not tasks

I write about German bureaucracy, and I wholeheartedly agree with your approach.

Most of my guides start with: what this is, who needs to do this, why you need to do this. If you don’t confirm that people are on the right page doing the right thing for the right reasons, they can go really far in the wrong direction.

Most government websites don’t explain any of this. They just tell you what they want from you to complete the part of the task that concerns them. They don’t bother to treat the task as part of a bigger decision. They just assume that you are here because you know what you are doing.

Re your last paragraph, the UK gov website excels at this. There are landing pages which describe the process, then warnings and caveats, then you can actually fill in the forms.

Eg this is the Google result for renewing your driving licence https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence - click Start Now and you'll see what I mean

As a "power user" this can sometimes feel like it gets in the way but I understand they need to consider everyone