How to Avoid ‘Yak Shaving’ When Solving a Problem
Learn to rethink your process when you’re spending too much time on the steps to your goal.
Listener Amy recently wrote in: “Hi Stever! Quick question. Have you done any podcasts about the yak shaving problem? When you set out in your day to accomplish one thing, but to do that you have to fix another thing, and that requires something else, and the next thing you know you’re in the Himalayas shaving a yak. I keep having this problem and I could use some guidance.”
I know, right? The world is complicated that way. We can get so focused on a solution that we don’t notice when our solution leads us off track. The next thing we know, we have a freshly-shaved yak licking our faces in appreciation. As enticing as this sounds, yak saliva does not live up to its reputation. Don’t ask me how I know this.
When yak slobber beckons, however, you can resist. You need to notice when you’re off course, stop, rethink, and swap in a simpler solution based on what you’ve learned since you began.
Notice When You’re Solving the Solution
Even if you’re not aware of the idea of yak shaving, you may still be doing it. Melvin, the IT coordinator at Green Growing Things plant shop, begins his day with one goal in mind: to connect all the computers in the shop to a brand new 5G network. But when Melvin starts to sift through each computer, he notices that each one has so much adware, it would be impossible to get the network up and running without installing an ad-blocker first.
But plant-shop-grade ad-blockers are expensive. Melvin knows computers. He figures he can save money by writing his own rather than buying one online. He heads to the library to borrow a book on writing anti-virus software, because being a smart man, he knows that paper books result in better retention than just reading something on the web.
But then he remembers he doesn’t have his library card! It’s in the pocket of a jacket he lent to Grandma Cuddles earlier in the week to keep her warm on the day care’s weekly salvage yard field trip. And Melvin can’t get his jacket back from Cuddles unless he returns Cuddles’s wool coat. But the coat is missing some of its stuffing. Hours later, Melvin is shaving a yak at the local petting zoo to collect enough yak-wool to fix it.
This is “solving the solution.” The original solution, to get the jacket, is now more complicated than the original problem, getting a library card. Melvin’s to-do list now includes shaving yaks, trading coats, and possibly risking being shot by security guards for trespassing at the salvage yard.
Too Many Mini-Problems Are Red Flags
Yak territory becomes clear when you look at your task list. If the majority of the items are things you’ve added in order to finish a task that you thought was straightforward, you may be solving the solution instead of solving the problem.
Sometimes there are genuine obstacles to be overcome when mini-problems arise. So of course you’ll end up with some new barriers to overcome. But it’s important to stop and consider whether your solution to the problem is becoming more difficult than the problem itself. If so, it’s time to simplify.
Find a Simpler Solution Using What You’ve Learned On Your Yak Quest
Part of why you got caught solving the solution is that as you worked on the original task, you discovered the task was not as straightforward as you thought. In other words, you learned. You now know more about the original task than you did at the start.
This is the silver lining to shaving yaks—by the time you’re chillin’ with your formerly-furry friend, you’ve learned enough to understand the original problem in greater depth. You almost certainly have a better idea of how you should have approached the problem to begin with. So ask yourself, now, whether there’s a better way to solve it.
In Melvin’s case, he asks, “How would I approach the adware problem differently?” And he finds he has an answer. ”I could have just backed up the data, wiped all of the hard drives clean, and reinstalled from scratch. It would have been eight hours out the window waiting for all the computers to re-boot, but it’s a known cost and a known solution guaranteed to work every time. I would have had the system up and running by the end of the day.”
You may be solving the solution instead of solving the problem.
Beware the ‘Sunk Cost’ Fallacy
All this rethinking—and the redoing that often comes with it—runs up against something called the ‘Sunk Cost’ fallacy. We don’t want to waste the effort we’ve put in so far. But thinking that way leads to even more waste. That time can never be recovered, so it shouldn’t be considered when we’re deciding how to go forward. Even if Melvin has put in weeks towards writing anti-virus software, it may be faster and cheaper to scrap those efforts and just spend a single day reinstalling the hard drives.
Swap in your simpler solution if the time savings are worth it, even if that means starting the project over from scratch. I once scrapped an entire project three months into an 8-month project plan. My supervisor had a heart attack. That was a good thing, because while he was busy recovering in the cardiac wing of the local hospital, he couldn’t object. I scrapped the project, restarted with the new approach, and delivered it on time.
Amy, as much as we may love our Yak friends, I stand with you in solidarity: Let’s just get our tasks done instead. Think consciously about what you’re working on and how it helps solve your original problem. Notice when you create mini-problems for yourself. If the solution-related tasks overwhelm your task list, rethink your solution if they start to pile up. If there’s a better way, change your tactics right away, and be willing to scrap what you’ve done so far if it will save enough time. Follow this advice, and you’ll live a wonderful, productive, happy life, forever free of yak slobber.
This is Stever Robbins. Follow GetItDoneGuy on Twitter and Facebook. I run programs to help people have Extraordinary Lives and extraordinary careers. If you want to know more, visit SteverRobbins.
Image of yak © Shutterstock
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About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
