never just

it's never just that simple

Picture yourself wrestling with a complex problem - maybe it's an elusive bug in a legacy codebase, or a fragile system architecture held together by workarounds and technical debt. You've invested countless hours diving deep into the problem, meticulously mapping out dependencies and edge cases. Your mind is swimming with implementation details when someone casually drops in to say:

Why don't you just...

To the person offering, it feels insightful. They've cracked the code! They see the easy answer that has eluded you. But to you? It lands like a tiny, linguistic hand grenade.

Your problem isn't simple. It has layers, history, competing priorities, and constraints that aren't immediately obvious. You've likely spent considerable time exploring avenues, hitting roadblocks, and discarding seemingly straightforward solutions precisely because they don't account for the complex reality you're navigating.

When you say "just," you're skipping over all the invisible complexity. You're assuming the problem is simple, and that the person asking for help hasn't already considered the obvious.

You're not seeing the constraints:

• Legacy code
• Business requirements
• Team conventions
• Time, budget, or technical debt
• Platform limitations

❌ Don't do this

Why it matters

When you "just" someone, you risk:

• Dismissing their expertise and effort
• Oversimplifying real-world problems
• Shutting down productive discussion
• Invalidating the deep understanding they've gained through experience
• Setting up a dynamic where you're the wise problem-solver and they're the one who needs the obvious pointed out

Most developers have already tried the obvious solutions. When they ask for help, it's because they've hit roadblocks that aren't immediately visible from the outside.

Your "just" comes from seeing only the surface of the problem. Like an iceberg, what's visible is just a fraction - they've been swimming in the depths, mapping out all the hidden complexities and constraints that make the simple solution impossible.

Think of it this way: If someone who's spent hours or days on a problem hasn't tried your five-second solution, there's probably a good reason why.

✅ Instead, try this

• Ask for context:
  "Can you tell me more about what you've tried so far?"

• Offer suggestions, not commands:
  "Have you considered using a different library? I'm curious if there's a blocker."

• Acknowledge complexity:
  "I know this stuff can get messy. What's making it tricky to switch?"

• Be humble:
  "I might be missing something—what's stopping a quick update?"

Further Reading

• No Hello - Why you shouldn't just say "hello" in chat
• Don't Ask to Ask - Just ask your question directly
• The XY Problem - How to ask better questions

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