(2023-04-30) The problem with "XY problem": why it might not be a problem
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As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm greatly annoyed when I look for an
answer regarding a specific tool and get the results about how to do the
same with anything except this particular tool. I also said it's probably
because forum know-it-alls think it's a kind of "XY problem" and don't
consider the fact you have a reason to only use the tool you're asking
about. Now is the time for me to tell what I think about this phenomenon and
people who constantly talk about it.
First of all, in case you don't know and didn't visit any relevant "homegrown
psychologist" webpages (as I like to call them), and haven't even read a
corresponding Wikipedia article (Gopherpedia is nice btw), let me reiterate
what this "XY problem" is. It's when someone asks about how to do X while
actually meaning to do Y, but not asking directly how to do Y. Regarding
computing, a canonical example these homegrown psychologists like to display
is when someone asks how to remove the last three characters from a string
when in reality they want to remove a filename extension (which, surprise,
can have more or less than three characters). I fully understand why they
like this example: in this case, the "XY problem" is evident and actually
does pose a problem. In real life though, things may not be so simple, and
usually aren't.
Imagine you're working as a tech support engineer or, more realistically,
just are a forum volunteer who genuinely wants to help people. And you are
faced with a question from someone where you spot an "XY problem". But you
are not sure about this yet. You really want to be helpful, so you start
asking more questions to the asker, like, "do you mean to do Y instead of
X?" or "why do you have to use the X tool or approach instead of Y?" and so
on. And then the asker tells you that more details are unavailable because
of NDA. Or that this particular set of tools is the only option available.
Or that Y requires much more effort with X giving the same result in their
case. Or something else. It's an awkward enough situation already: you are
the one who is supposed to give reasoning and explanations, not they, they
already feel uncomfortable at this point. But, instead of simply giving up
and responding that you don't know how to do X or responding with the answer
to the _initial_ question (if you know it), you continue to tell the asker
how X is wrong and how to do Y. What reaction are you gonna get? Most
likely, the asker will never come back to you. You didn't help and
discouraged this person (and, if the conversation was in a public place like
a forum, anyone who saw it) from coming to you again anytime soon. All
because you think you know everything better than everybody else.
You might suppose this example is exaggregated, but no, it happens all the
time on well-known tech-related online resources. I fully understand that
lots of questions on those resources are naive and best and sometimes
outright stupid (trust me, I'm a semi-active tech group moderator and a
forum topic ex-curator myself), but it doesn't give anyone the right to
treat group members who just come for answers as total idiots every single
time. They might have their reasons why they chose to do X and not Y in the
first place, and they are not obliged to explain these reasons and
everything behind them. Everything else except what they asked about is none
of your fucking business. Not to mention there are users like me, who still
might be noobs at some areas and still need to ask questions in these areas
but, other than that, fully know what they are doing. Imagine yourself
asking a fully motivated and correct question just for some arrogant dork to
XY you away from the answer.
By the way, I also don't like the name itself: why not "A-B problem" or
something else that doesn't look like the problem is with males (who carry
XY chromosome set)? I'm not _that_ paranoid, but why, among all other
options, did that particular name stick around? Makes one think twice about
who is actually benefitting from spreading this concept across the
mainstream information sphere.
Anyway, moral of the story and my advice to anyone who already has embraced
this concept: stop thinking you're smarter than everyone who asks you
questions. At least stop assuming that by default. It is generally much
better to only answer what you're asked about, and if you don't know the
answer to this particular question, don't be afraid to say this and move on.
In any case, you won't be able to help anyone who doesn't want to help
themselves, so don't waste your energy on thinking for them.
