yak shaving
Figurative meaning
a seemingly pointless chain of tasks that must each be completed before the original task can be done
Why this phrase?
Popularized by MIT's AI lab; the image is from the cartoon Ren & Stimpy, where Ren must shave a yak before he can get a paddle to row the boat he needs to do a favour.
Example
“I just wanted to send one email, but upgrading my laptop turned into a three-hour yak-shaving session.”
Additional meanings
Dictionary details
Related idioms
Expressions connected by reviewed component words or topic tags.
kill two birds with one stone
Neutral · CEFR B1
To accomplish two tasks with a single effort or action.
band-aid fix
Informal · CEFR B2
a hasty, temporary solution that patches a symptom without addressing the root cause
feature creep
Neutral · CEFR B2
the uncontrolled growth of new features until a product becomes bloated and hard to use
go down a rabbit hole
Informal · CEFR B2
to get lost in a long, winding, often pointless digression while researching or building something
quick and dirty
Informal · CEFR B2
done rapidly and roughly, with little care for quality or polish
smoke test
Neutral · CEFR B2
a quick, shallow test that checks whether a system's most basic functions work at all
Source methodology
Meanings, register, CEFR, and examples come from the reviewed dictionary record. Expression notes may describe a reviewed present-day word picture or a background note; they are not presented as verified etymology.