I just began work on a new project that was half modeled. I initially tried to understand the existing model and wasted quite a few weeks for understanding tha

I just began work on a new project that was half modeled. I initially tried to understand the existing model and wasted quite a few weeks for understanding that incomplete model. My problem is had i spent that time understanding the system...testing it as i would test a black box, i believe i could have constructed a better model..Ofcourse, this doesn't say anything about pros or cons of either approach.. And am beginning to get annoyed at the boiler plate generated by OOPS style programming. But, to be honest, creating a model without looking at data first doesn't appeal to me either. I guess models will have evolve in sync with tests.. i.e: generate model/hypothesis,test, refine model/hypothesis test, repeat.