What follows is almost certainly a suggestion that sounds like it would obviously be a simpler approach to the person asking. But if the person you're asking this of approximately the same or better competency/knowledge level as you, than it's very likely that there is a good reason why the thing following "just" is more complicated than it seems.
There's about a mile wide swath of difference between "Why don't you just do y?" and "What are the complications behind doing y?"
The former is disrespectful. The latter is a way to seek information from a person presumed to have done some research or have some knowledge.
The presence of the word "just" strongly implies that you believe the person you're talking with has not considered this 'simple' solution. This can be extremely frustrating, annoying, and belittling to someone who has carefully weighed x vs y, and decided x was better. They might be wrong about this, and maybe y really is better, but if they've done their homework likely it's by a slender margin, and not "just-so."
The absence of "just" and the active acknowledgement of possible complications of y, implies that you respect the research that the person you're talking to has done, and want to understand it better.
In my experience "Why don't we just..." referring to a group or collaborative activity is almost always a way to make the job of the person speaking easier by making far work for someone else in the group. I used to get this in theater all the time. The carp-shop would ask why we were doing dimensional, applied moulding, when we could just have the painters do painted trim. If the production manager is competent, they have balanced the material and weight implications of applied trim against the labor and time costs of painted trim and seen the obvious advantage. And it's annoying to have this basic tenant of the job, of balancing various factors, questioned in a flippant way by someone who doesn't have the whole system in mind.
no subject
What follows is almost certainly a suggestion that sounds like it would obviously be a simpler approach to the person asking. But if the person you're asking this of approximately the same or better competency/knowledge level as you, than it's very likely that there is a good reason why the thing following "just" is more complicated than it seems.
There's about a mile wide swath of difference between "Why don't you just do y?" and
"What are the complications behind doing y?"
The former is disrespectful. The latter is a way to seek information from a person presumed to have done some research or have some knowledge.
The presence of the word "just" strongly implies that you believe the person you're talking with has not considered this 'simple' solution. This can be extremely frustrating, annoying, and belittling to someone who has carefully weighed x vs y, and decided x was better. They might be wrong about this, and maybe y really is better, but if they've done their homework likely it's by a slender margin, and not "just-so."
The absence of "just" and the active acknowledgement of possible complications of y, implies that you respect the research that the person you're talking to has done, and want to understand it better.
In my experience "Why don't we just..." referring to a group or collaborative activity is almost always a way to make the job of the person speaking easier by making far work for someone else in the group. I used to get this in theater all the time. The carp-shop would ask why we were doing dimensional, applied moulding, when we could just have the painters do painted trim. If the production manager is competent, they have balanced the material and weight implications of applied trim against the labor and time costs of painted trim and seen the obvious advantage. And it's annoying to have this basic tenant of the job, of balancing various factors, questioned in a flippant way by someone who doesn't have the whole system in mind.