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Also known as "yak shaving"[0] or "bikeshedding"[1] 0: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving 1: https://en.wik
by krono 3y ago
Also known as "yak shaving"[0] or "bikeshedding"[1]
0: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving
1: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bikeshedding https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bikeshedding
- jzb 3y agoNah. Yak Shaving is “I wanted to do X, but I had to do six other things before I could actually do X.”
- krono 3y agoThe Wiktionary definition I linked to doesn't reflect that, it should probably be updated then.
- daswerth 3y agoIt's definition 1 in the link you shared: Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows one to solve a larger problem.
- actionfromafar 3y agoIt started like that, but I think it also nowadays means "an awful lot of work for very small results".
- jzb 3y agoIf anybody's using it like that, it's totally lost its meaning. The whole concept is that sometimes to get result A you have to a total laundry list of seemingly unrelated tasks to clear the way. This scene[1] from Malcolm in the Middle almost illustrates it perfectly except it's more Hal getting distracted on side quests that were spawned because he tried to change a light bulb... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0
- krono 3y agoJust circling back here to say thanks for the correction. The "seemingly" part is what I missed.
- rkachowski 3y agobikeshedding is more of a group phenomenon where trivial decisions outweigh more meaningful and difficult decisions due to the trivial decisions being easily understood.