If its more than one engineer I would say there is a very real chance that the issue is the manager. Sometimes things need to be more complex than they first a

If its more than one engineer I would say there is a very real chance that the issue is the manager. Sometimes things need to be more complex than they first appear. Think all that pesky error checking that you totally don't need as long as everything is working perfectly for an extreme case. If the engineers are experienced think strongly about letting the do the work as long as they are ones who will also take the pain of the complexity. Also having them explain why something is needed to the rest of the team is a good way to have everyone on board with a decision and it helps bring the rest of the team up to speed.