XY problem: not only in software

The XY problem is something I've been acutely aware and watching out forever. In software development.
I usually refer to it as describing the issue in terms of the solution instead of the problem.

And as with all things, they're very easy to see in one context, and jump at us unexpected and undetected in others. This is how I felt when I came across what is essentially a ROI question for a platform team (in the Team Topologies declination) and in the thread somebody simply unpacked it for me and everybody else:

you have a XY problem:

X: are we spending too much on product + engineering?

Y: we need to determine the appropriate level of investment or budgeting

And there it is, a problem I can work with, instead of responding to the trap.

The conversation happened in the Rands Leadership Slack, which I wholeheartedly recommend you join regardless of your role.