When someone uses a specific property X of a thing (product/service/process) as a proxy to a different property Y of that thing, where Y is what they really care about. This can often have the adverse effect of thinking that in order to get Y you need X, blinding you to other ways to get Y. ## Examples - How do I test this *locally*? Local is usually a proxy for fast and/or isolated from other developers. ## Why these can be problematic - Lose sight on what the ultimate goal is (e.g. in final product quality or [[Total cost of ownership]]) - Hinder adoption of other technologies which may better help reach the ultimate goal --- ## References - ["Faster Horse" quote](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/07/28/ford-faster-horse/) - [XY problem (wiki)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem) --- tags: [[Software engineering MOC]]