DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
Yes, I think that process works for some people. The idea that it will take substantially longer to produce a complete work that way strikes me as an assumption without any real evidence behind it. People write in different ways, none inherently better than the other since what works for the individual writer is what matters. For some writers, rushing somewhat haphazardly through a first draft might lead to a longer overall process; for others it may be the reverse.
Given the nature of the OP's problem, I see at least two approaches:
1) start outlining/planning the story at a higher level and work through the issues before committing words to the paper;
2) push through until you have a complete first draft, and if issues arise that would otherwise stop you in your tracks, ignore them for now and keep going.
Neither of these is inherently better than the other, and only the OP can determine which approach is likely to be the best for his/her own writing.
I must say that with my last book, I took the #2 approach. Rereading that book was a weird as hell mess. But something extraordinary has happened. Just from rereading and taking notes, I now know what to do to the first 30 chapters to fix them and how I'm going to do it. Something I never could have figured out without first having written the book. Having the book written changes everything in some cases.
I tried #1. As I said, blocked for 2 years.
Maybe this discussion suggests that the OP needs to first figure out what kind of writer they are, or what works for them. Writing this book might be a part of that, though. So the OP could pick either approach and get out of it the benefit of seeing what works for them.