Idioms & SlangIntermediate
Yak shaving
PronunciationYAK SHAY-ving
Definition
A chain of small tasks you must do first, which takes you further and further from your real goal.
Where you hear it
Developer humor and honest status updates.
Examples
I wanted to fix a typo, but now I am upgrading Node. Classic yak shaving.
Stop yak shaving and go back to the original ticket.
Common mistake
Calling needed work yak shaving. Sometimes you really must upgrade a dependency first.
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