the xy problem

please don't ask about your solution when you should be asking about your problem

Imagine asking a mechanic: "Can you weld a new axle mount onto this duct tape?" instead of "My axle is broken, how do I fix it?" 🤦

what is it?

The XY Problem is when you ask for help with your attempted solution (Y) instead of your actual problem (X).

You want to do X.

You think you can get there if you first do Y.

You don't know how to do Y either, so you ask for help with it.

Others try to help with Y, but are confused — it seems like a strange goal.

After much wasted time, it turns out Y wouldn't even have solved X anyway.

The problem happens when people fixate on their chosen solution and can't step back to describe the original goal. This wastes everyone's time — including yours.

❌ don't do this

Alex 10:03 AM

Hey, how do I get the last 3 characters of a filename in bash?

Sam 10:07 AM

${filename: -3}

Alex 10:08 AM

Hmm but it's not working for all my files

Sam 10:14 AM

Wait — why do you need the last 3 characters? What are you actually trying to do?

Alex 10:15 AM

Oh... I'm trying to get the file extension

Sam 10:15 AM

Not all extensions are 3 chars 😅 You want ${filename##*.} — that's the real answer

Alex wasted 12 minutes and almost shipped a broken script — all because the actual goal was never stated up front.

✅ do this instead

Alex 10:03 AM

Hey! I'm trying to extract the file extension from a filename in bash. I tried ${filename: -3} but it breaks on .jpeg and .sh files. What's the right approach?

Sam 10:04 AM

Easy one — use ${filename##*.} — that strips everything up to the last dot 👌

Alex 10:04 AM

Perfect, thank you!!

why does this happen?

People get tunnel vision on a solution they've already invested time in. It feels weird to abandon your approach and start over — so instead of asking "how do I accomplish X?", you ask "how do I fix the blocker in my Y approach?"

The helper is then stuck solving the wrong problem, often without enough context to even realize it.

The deeper issue: when you only describe your attempted solution, you've already pre-filtered the answer space. The person helping you can't suggest a better path they don't know you need.

how to ask better questions

Good pattern: "I'm trying to [ultimate goal]. I attempted [approach] because [reason], but ran into [specific problem]. Is there a better way?"

if someone sends you this link

They're not trying to be dismissive! They're telling you that your question is probably about the wrong thing — and that with a little more context, they (or someone else) can actually solve what you're stuck on.