Play Lists vs Chapter Markers

I created a DVD with a 40 minute long clip that I divided into 17 chapters. In
the first menu I have two choices, play the clip in its entirety or go to the
next menu that enables the user to choose which chapter to navigate.

I thought I was doing so well, BUT now when I choose to view the complete clip
it stops at the end action of chapter 1.

One suggestion that someone made on this forum was to get rid of all of the end
actions for chapter markers.

I'm new and the little bit of training that I have reviewed said that end
actions for everything is very important. So I started playing with Chapter
Playlists, very cool but different from what I've been told.

What's the best workflow? I hope this isn't a "Mac vs PC" kind of
debate...

If I understand what you're trying to accomplish, here's how I would do it.

Original timeline with your 17 chapters: for play all, no end actions or
overrides at all except for an end action for the timeline itself to either loop
or go back to a menu you choose.

Individual chapters back to menu: after doing the above, create 17 chapter
playlists. Add one chapter to each chapter playlist and set the end action of
the chapter playlist itself back to the menu of choice. There should be buttons
on a menu for each individual chapter that link to the chapter playlists, not
the chapter markers on the timeline.