> I think if most engineers took a step back and said "I don't know" and took some time to truly understand the requirements of the project they are working on

> I think if most engineers took a step back and said "I don't know" and took some time to truly understand the requirements of the project they are working on they would find a truly elegant and maintainable solution that did not require tweaking your problem to fit a given solution. > The general trend I see as I get older is that we are valuing the first to a solution rather than a more correct solution. Only to be stuck with a solution that requires constant care and work around. This, 1000 times over. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to turn a project around that started without me and has gone down the path of using an inadequate (but mildly popular) open source tool instead of building something that's actually designed to solve our problem, not someone else's.