That sure sounds (no pun intended) like a real issue with  wifi interference , or even, albeit less likely, a duplicate IP address issue. I’d recommend checking the linked FAQ, and if the solutions listed there don’t fix it, I’d try a complete Sonos network refresh, by unplugging all Sonos devices from power, then while they’re unplugged, rebooting the router. Only once the router comes back up should you plug back in the Sonos devices. 

You’re completely correct that you should be able to start playback from any device, and then group as desired, there shouldn’t be any reason that you need to do your current process, it should work from any Sonos player in your controller. 

If the above doesn’t work, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, there are more options available beyond just the diagnostic analysis. 

Thanks Bruce.  Will give this a try.  Unfortunately, when I was on the phone with Sonos, I received repeated errors (after multiple attempts) to send them the diagnostic.

That’s a pretty good indicator of some sort of interference, where the speakers can’t reach the Sonos servers in order to deposit the data. Once they can see that data, you’ve got a substantially better chance of them being able to help than us random folks on the web.