What’s that principle where you don’t know you’re asking the wrong question because you’ve got this idea in your head on how to do something, so you search frustratingly. If you could step up a level and find the right question, you’d find a well established, efficient solution.
Related to unknown unknowns I guess, but I came across a phrase or word encapsulating it, and now I can’t remember or (ironically) find it.
ETA: It’s the XY Problem, thanks Bophades@midwest.social.
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Would “incognizant” fit the bill? Or, perhaps, the XY Problem?
It’s the XY Problem. Champion.
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I feel the pain.
Take a step back and explain context. I’ve found, when working as a subject matter expert, people focus on the wrong parts of the problem when asking the question and will try to optimize their question for the wrong thing.
Explaining how the problem came about adds context and helps you ask the questions you don’t know to ask.
So now that you’ve got your Y problem solved, what was the X problem that led you to trying to remember the phrase? Or did you solve that part, but still had that nagging question in the back of your mind?
Nah, saw someone else doing it and wanted the phrase…
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This is tangentially related to what the eastern mystics call the “tao”.
Not wrong.
My favourite encapsulism of Daoism is…(paraphrased, possibly a profound joke)
A Buddhist will go with the flow down a river, as will a Taoist, but the Taoist will paddle at the right time to choose (something).
