Not bad advice when you remember that advice is only ever for people who know absolutely nothing and need encouragement to start. "Only solve for X" gives some constraint so that one can start to focus on what really matters and not be bombarded with so many choices as to derail the entire effort.
With practice, one soon comes to understand why you might also want to solve for Y. Those with experience are going to ignore what everyone else says anyway, so it doesn't matter if it is not true for them.
Indeed, we in this industry are bad at practicing, and that's a problem. Imagine being Taylor Swift and having your guitarist for the night's performance having picked up a guitar for the first time yesterday. That would never fly, yet that's often how we treat software development – and that's how we get to these kinds of places.
With practice, one soon comes to understand why you might also want to solve for Y. Those with experience are going to ignore what everyone else says anyway, so it doesn't matter if it is not true for them.
Indeed, we in this industry are bad at practicing, and that's a problem. Imagine being Taylor Swift and having your guitarist for the night's performance having picked up a guitar for the first time yesterday. That would never fly, yet that's often how we treat software development – and that's how we get to these kinds of places.