Then it seems likely you're either correct and working with very poor engineers or making very poor and potentially incorrect assumptions based on your own lack

Then it seems likely you're either correct and working with very poor engineers or making very poor and potentially incorrect assumptions based on your own lack of understanding of the code. I've been brought on to several projects over the years that simply could not move forward due to totally unsalvageable development failures; that's definitely not the case in every instance, but it absolutely does happen.