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Examples

  • ChangeThis CONNECT Social media is either a time-wasting, wool-gathering, yak-shaving waste of effort or, perhaps, just maybe, it's a crack in the wall between you and the rest of the world.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows surferivo 2010

  • & pieces, and it takes a whole bunch of yak-shaving time that leaves me grumpy.

    PlanetJava 2009

Comments

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  • a seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.

    April 25, 2008

  • I must find a way to use this phrase in office meetings.

    April 25, 2008

  • I'm going to use it today. I hereby swear.

    April 25, 2008

  • I have a feeling that most of what I do is yak-shaving.

    April 25, 2008

  • Just came across this term on Seth Godin's blog (who apparently discovered it on Joi Ito's Web), and I love it.

    August 20, 2009

  • (see also yak shaving)

    Actually I love the end of that blog: "The minute you start walking down a path toward a yak shaving party, it's worth making a compromise. Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later." Right on, brother.

    August 20, 2009

  • Not to be confused with yakshaving, a term used to describe certain wealthy Mongols.

    September 12, 2009