The Joel test gives a nice proxy to measure the experience levels of the people in charge. Inexperienced people seem to underestimate their risks, and overesti

The Joel test gives a nice proxy to measure the experience levels of the people in charge. Inexperienced people seem to underestimate their risks, and overestimate their abilities. Everyone eventually makes a mistake, but the Joel test reveals how likely mistakes are to be caught early, and how quickly a team will be able to recover. When it comes to an complex system, these quickly become critical to maintaining a measure of quality, regardless of how "awesome" the individuals are.