Shave the Yak

Definitions

1. To get drawn into a chain of prerequisite tasks that are far removed from the original goal. In engineering slang, yak shaving is one of the canonical ways a five-minute fix becomes a full afternoon.

   In plain English: Getting pulled into many indirect side tasks before reaching the original goal.

   Example: "He started by updating a dependency and ended up shaving the yak through build tools, test fixtures, and one ancient packaging assumption."

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