If the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail (idea)

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:

• Marketing Manager : "We need to see how our competitors do this."
• Project Manager : "We need to form a plan and define requirements for this"
• Development Manager : "I'll note it as a bug and let the developers sort it out."

You can then further break this down to the way the individual developers respond, again regardless of the problem:

• XML Guy : "I can deal with this in the XML."
• Java Guy : "I can change one of the classes to solve this."
• Database Guy : "Let me just check the DB drivers..."
• Configuration Guy : "We need to change the insert scripts."

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.