The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 4 letter word RANDOM WALK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
A
N
D
O
M
W
A
L
K
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "haphazard series of steps" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case haphazard series of steps = random walk.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.