In my experience, this is when you need the skill to know to refactor to a state machine and/or refactor to some other form of composition (strategy objects, ha

In my experience, this is when you need the skill to know to refactor to a state machine and/or refactor to some other form of composition (strategy objects, has-a, or whatever). As taught in school, State Machines are formalisms that fit well when everything can be formally specified. As I have learnt, State Machines in programming help to reorganize things that have evolved haphazardly.