XY problem

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The XY problem is a communication problem that mainly occurs in customer support and similar situations. This is where the real problem, X , is obscured by the person seeking support. Instead of directly for a solution to the problem X to ask that person questions the solution for a secondary problem, Y . Here the questioner believes that solving problem Y allows solving problem X itself.

However, the solution of problem Y does not lead to the solution of problem X or the problem is only poorly or unsightly solved. Additionally, masking the actual problem and focusing on a potentially strange secondary problem can leave the person trying to help having difficulty communicating and providing poor solutions.

The XY problem usually occurs in the area of ​​technical support and customer service, in which the user has already tried to solve his problem himself. It can happen that the user has misunderstood the actual problem or the actual cause, which leads to the fact that he believes that he has already solved the actual problem X and only one small detail, Y , needs to be solved. The inability of the support agent to solve the actual problem or understand the background of the request leads to end-user frustration. The situation can be made clear when the end-user asks for a detail which is seemingly useless to achieve any useful goal. The solution for the support staff is to ask questions about why this detail is needed in order to find out the actual basic problem in order to lead the end user away from an unproductive path of the request.

origin

The term XY problem was implicitly coined by Eric S. Raymond in his text How To Ask Questions The Smart Way when he said "How can I use X to do Y?" ( "How can I X use solve Y can?" ) To the "Questions Not To Ask" ( "questions you should not ask" ) added (it should be noted that in this original version, the meaning of X and Y are swapped):

Q: How can I use X to do Y? A: If what you want is to do Y, you should ask that question without pre-supposing the use of a method that may not be appropriate. Questions of this form often indicate a person who is not merely ignorant about X, but confused about what problem Y they are solving and too fixated on the details of their particular situation.

The problem itself was known long before this name was coined. In "Applied Management Science: A Quick and Dirty Approach" published in 1980, Gene Woolsey describes a well-known example in which the wrong problem is solved. Management was concerned about complaints that people had to wait too long for an elevator. To find a solution, a lot of time and money was invested in researching how elevators plan routes to reduce waiting times. Woolsey advises that this was attempting to solve the wrong problem. The real problem was "people complaining". Putting up large mirrors in the lobby gave people something to do and the number of complaints dropped sharply.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Steven Raymond: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way . In: Eric S. Raymond's Home Page . Eric Steven Raymond. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  2. ↑ Rick Robert ED Hesse Woolsey: Applied Management Science: A Quick and Dirty Approach . Ed .: Science Research Associates. 1980 ( archive.org ).