I am definitely not one of those "move fast and break stuff" people, especially since I often have only a few months to design something that is expected to be

I am definitely not one of those "move fast and break stuff" people, especially since I often have only a few months to design something that is expected to be in service until oxidation is a legitimate concern. My personal ventures are largely web based so I've also become rather too personally acquainted with the other extreme - the madness that is node_modules/, implicit *.d.ts imports, and browser impedance mismatches. The problem in the hardware industry is far more insidious. Unlike with software dev, there is no concept of "full stack" or "devops" in manufacturing. The entire field is so hyperspecialized that youve got people dedicated to tuning reflow temperatures to +-5C depending on humidity and local weather. No one person can have a proper big picture view of the situation so the entire industry is dominated by silos each with their own micro-incentives and employees competing with each other for notoriety.