Originally Posted by
FakePilot
Take away all tools from the Engineer except one (i.e. hammer). Now you have a programmer. Most engineering work I've observed is "will the whole thing work?" vs. software people "when can I use my favorite tool?"
The "favorite tool" and/or "favorite language" syndrome is the sign of a junior programmer.
In this case, lots of schemes would have worked. As others have said, they just needed to actually exercise the one they picked. When it comes to software and information systems, if it hasn't been tested, it doesn't work.
So we have the first round of testing: Not bad, up in only a few hours. Too bad it wasn't a test.
Actually, a major cost in these systems is the testing. As each revision is made to the system, you need ways to routinely simulate and check daily activity without actually relying on that system.