I think that Mr. Yegge missed the real question - but the rant was worth it. I particularly liked "The easiest way to build a product that kicks ass is to start

I think that Mr. Yegge missed the real question - but the rant was worth it. I particularly liked "The easiest way to build a product that kicks ass is to start with someone else's great idea (camcorders, for instance), and take stuff away." I suspect what the "business correspondent" wanted to know was something more like: "My customer wants me to build him a new billing system. Their top managers have some defined strategic objectives but no-one I have met seems to actually know what this system should do in any detail. However, they can all detail the bad things that would happen if it did not do (whatever it is) perfectly from day one. Now how do I find out what to build them?" Now that question is the one that development teams face every day.