If anybody's using it like that, it's totally lost its meaning. The whole concept is that sometimes to get result A you have to a total laundry list of seemingly unrelated tasks to clear the way.

This scene[1] from Malcolm in the Middle almost illustrates it perfectly except it's more Hal getting distracted on side quests that were spawned because he tried to change a light bulb...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0

It's definition 1 in the link you shared:

    Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows one to solve a larger problem.