A bad thing? A good thing...

[sergebroom]

"The first thing you've got to learn about this ship is that she was designed by geniuses to be run by idiots."

"The Caine Mutiny"'s Lt.Keefer intended his comment to be disparaging, but I've long thought that a design assuming idiocy or clumsiness from its users was a good design.

Comments

[readinggeek451]

I agree.

Another quote, whose source I have lost (and which is probably slightly mangled): "The problem with trying to make things foolproof is that fools are so ingenious."

[sophielandon.livejournal.com]

Paraphrasing my husband: "I design things so that if they fail at three a.m., the still-asleep network guy on call will have at least some clue as to what's going on."

Also, to turn it around, designing things for perfection and then testing simply by throwing one of those cursed people who break everything just by standing next to the computer is no way to run things.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Luckily, our system's testing usually is done by smart people who know what weaknesses to look for. As for what your hubby said... Same here, and since I don't like being awakened at 3am because of a system failure, I build things also following the principle that, if someone can do something the wrong way, someone will. I am rather proud that my work has a very low rate of failure.