My example counts for a lot less than the ones we've heard, but I sometimes start out knowing the form I want to try and then try to use that decision as I begin to write. For example, if I "know" I want to write a sonnet, I'll avoid taking too long to get to the "point," figuring I have to wrap up the first part of the poem in 8 lines. If I have something longer in mind, I might spend 6 or 8 lines setting a scene or laying groundwork. My recent terzanelle was a self-conscious decision to try the form ,and I tried as I wrote the first lines to bear in mind that I'd have to find some way to bring the lines back, possibly somewhat altered, in the end.
Other times, maybe most of the times, the decision comes after a few lines are written. If the first few lines come out iambic pentameter, I find myself wondering if I could stand to hear that third line a few more times, or whether the rhyme I've used at this point can be sustained a few more times...and if the answer is yes, I might tip toward a villanelle. If I write six unrhyming lines, I might glimpse the end-words and wonder whether I should be foolish enough to turn it into a sestina. Etc.
But whether you commit before the first line is written, or a few lines later, I think you generally need to commit at some point and then make decisions that will allow you to fulfill the form you've settled on.
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