Stop Solving the Wrong Problem: The XY Problem Every Developer Faces

If you’ve been a developer long enough, you’ve probably had this conversation:

Teammate: “Hey, how do I parse HTML with regex?”
You: “Hmm… why do you need to do that?”
Teammate: “Oh, I just want the title of a webpage.”
You: “Ah, then just use an HTML parser—it’s much easier.”

Congratulations, you just dodged the XY problem.

What is the XY Problem?

The XY problem happens when someone asks for help with their solution (X) instead of their real problem (Y).

• Y is the goal — the real thing you’re trying to achieve.

• X is just one idea for how to achieve it.

The danger? If you only focus on X, you might end up solving the wrong problem, wasting time, and introducing new bugs.

Why This Matters for Developers

• Wasted Time: Chasing X can send you down a rabbit hole.

• Poor Solutions: Solving X often results in fragile or inefficient code.

• Team Friction: Miscommunication slows everyone down.

In short: you’re treating the symptoms without diagnosing the disease.

How to Avoid It as a Developer

1. When Asking for Help — Lead with the Problem

Don’t start with your attempted solution. Instead, start with:

1. What you want to achieve (Y)

2. What you’ve tried (X)

3. Why it didn’t work

Example:

“I’m trying to get the title of a webpage (Y). I tried using regex (X) but it fails for complex HTML. What’s a better approach?”

This gives the person helping you enough context to suggest better solutions.

2. When Giving Help — Ask “Why?” Early

If a teammate jumps into specifics too fast, slow them down:

“Before we dive into that, what’s the bigger problem you’re solving?”

This often leads to faster, cleaner solutions.

3. Make Context a Team Habit

Whether it’s Jira tickets, PR descriptions, or Slack threads, always include the “why” before the “how.”

• Bad: “Add caching here.”

• Good: “This API call is slowing down page load by 2 seconds. Adding caching might fix it.”

The Takeaway

The XY problem is everywhere in software engineering.
If you want better solutions and faster problem-solving, don’t just swap “how” for “why”, make it a reflex.

Solve Y, not just X.