[shawnz]

I don't think it is disrespectful to suggest someone is falling victim to the XY problem.

Actually I think it is a common and expected outcome that when investigating a new problem, we often get stuck in "XY problem" traps while researching the solution.

I very much value any feedback that suggests I should rethink the entire problem with a simpler model, because without experience it's hard to know what the simplest models are.

[anaerobicover]

Absolutely agree. In my experience this is one of the more valuable features of asking someone to discuss a problem I'm mired in. Because they haven't been looking under every rock and studying the bark of every tree like I have, they're very likely to quickly see when I've wandered into entirely the wrong part of the forest.