[dap]

There are always a million problems people are trying to solve.

I'm trying to draw a square because I need to draw a button. I'm trying to draw a button because I need the user to be able to click it. I'm trying to make something the user can click so they can use this feature. I'm trying to make this feature so the user can do ... I'm trying to enable the user to do ... so my product can be successful. I'm trying to make the product successful so my company can survive. I'm trying to help my company survive so I can keep getting paid. I'm trying to get paid so I can feed my family. ... It goes on.

The XY problem, at least as I usually see it phrased, implies that there's exactly one problem up the stack that the asker should have asked about. There's not. It's impossible to know how much context would be useful and it depends on how much help the asker wants. Sometimes, I just want to draw a square and don't want help redesigning the feature. Maybe sometimes I _could_ use that kind of feedback. I think what's important is to meet people at the level they've asked the question, and _maybe_ suggest that it might be the wrong level. But so often respondents just obnoxiously insist on redesigning the feature when I just need to draw a square.