[avisser]

One thing I love at my current job is people embracing the X/Y question terms. People will frequently ask on Slack, "How do I do X?" and immediately follow up with "I'm asking because in implementing process Y, it seems like I need an X."

Helps so much getting to the root of the issue.

[spydum]

omg yes. state the underlying goal to achieve and detail how you intend to go about it and seek help. i dont know how many problems i helped solve only to find out the underlying problem was already solved in another way.

ive learned to ask that as my first follow up question for random requests for help: is this the real problem or are you trying to solve a different higher level problem

[theshrike79]

This problem is as old as time and was really prevalent in IRC channels relating to software a few decades ago.

Some friendly individual put up a site to explain the issue to newbies: https://xyproblem.info