This old
chestnut addresses one of the largest problems in any industry, or any area where
creative problem solving is required - a lack of
diversity. Often people will find a method of solving problems and then insist on applying that
solution to every other problem that they encouter, even if it's totally
unrelated.
And to disagree with naked_ape's writeup, it actually is something that does affect the software industry quite a bit. I work in a small company (28 people including admin staff), and this problem crops up quite a lot. Any problem, no matter what it's nature, generally elicts the same responses:
You can then further break this down to the way the individual developers respond, again regardless of the problem:
This
reaction is completely normal - if all you know is
XML, then either you'll diagnose it as an
XML problem or
keep your mouth shut. The solution is
diversity and
cross-training. That way problems are
diagnosed and solved much faster.