this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
64 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

44148 readers
1351 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What's that principle where you don't know you're asking the wrong question because you've got this idea in your head on how to do something, so you search frustratingly. If you could step up a level and find the right question, you'd find a well established, efficient solution.

Related to unknown unknowns I guess, but I came across a phrase or word encapsulating it, and now I can't remember or (ironically) find it.

ETA: It's the XY Problem, thanks [email protected].

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Take a step back and explain context. I've found, when working as a subject matter expert, people focus on the wrong parts of the problem when asking the question and will try to optimize their question for the wrong thing.

Explaining how the problem came about adds context and helps you ask the questions you don't know to ask.