> In this case, the fault isn't so much individual incompetence, as collective incompetence of the field. The ecosystem is toxic, as are conventional practices,

> In this case, the fault isn't so much individual incompetence, as collective incompetence of the field. The ecosystem is toxic, as are conventional practices, as are market incentives. Individuals might be incompetent on top of that, but the situation is nigh impossible for competent ones as well. Eh, I disagree. Software engineering allows for failure where the cost of failure is low. So your mail app stops working and you have to restart it, who cares, so long as you get some neat new features faster that on the whole make your life better? In parts of the industry where failure is costly, like medical or aviation, we operate differently. Speed and correctness are antithetical generally, and different parts of the industry accept different trade-offs based on their risk tolerance. The goal isn't to build something that operates perfectly at all costs, the goal is to develop systems that operate as well as they need to given external constraints. [edit] The truth is we wouldn't have 1/10th of the cool shit we have today if we demanded absolute perfection from things that just didn't need it because we're a "profession."