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by taffit 4 days ago
This is exactly yak shaving as well.

The Urban Dictionary [1] defines it as: "Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on."

So it is a perfect fit for what you described.

[1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yak+shaving