Yak shaving is programming lingo for the seemingly endless series of small tasks that have to be completed before the next step in a project can move forward. Gilden Yak Shaving Day, a parody of Christmas, is a fictional holiday celebrated by cartoon characters Ren & Stimpy on the Nickelodeon channel. The term as it applies to programming was coined by Dr. Carlin Vieri.

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Roedy Green provides an example of yak shaving.