Comment by aazaa

> Whenever you look at a problem somebody’s been working on for a week or a month or maybe years and propose a simple, obvious solution that just happens to be the first thing that comes into your head, then you’re also making it crystal clear to people what you think of them and their work.

I've been successful with a different approach.

Ask "What happened when you tried X," where X is a simple option, instead.

It implies that you think X could have been tried, and opens the door for an explanation for why it didn't work.

If X wasn't tried (and I am surprised how often it was not), then you find out. No chance for misunderstanding, except from the most defensive types.