Just my 2 cents here regarding skill-checks.
what i think another thing Disco Elysium (and to be honest, tabletop) does well is it adds the need you seek for situational modifiers in addition to the character (skill/class/proficiency) modifiers to improve your chance of success for a key skill-check. Early in gameplay the player realizes if they make attempts to uderstand a problem like doing some investigation and/or prework maybe asking around or reading books about the subject - these usually doesnt require checks and can be performed by anyone willing to spend time on it - the results add up as situational modifiers to the key skill check in question
I agree trying skill-checks probably should involve XP gain as well (with no matter its a fail or a hit) as it would make it much more rewarding (in the end, you experience something interesting, new and you learn from your mistakes etc)