Is There a There There? [MicroBusiness]

I was once in a meeting where we reviewed a number of test platforms for use in our engineering labs. The goal was to understand the capabilities and potential of each, ultimately to select one or two for broad deployment across the company. There was an advocate for each system to provide an overview and to answer questions. One of the advocates quickly had me lost. He described ever-increasing levels of abstract software hierarchy. His answers to questions were even more befuddling. I’m no expert in advanced software systems architecture, but I know a thing or two about test systems. I could conclude one of two things: 1) the engineer was describing a brilliantly conceived system beyond my ability to understand, or 2) he was obscuring a flawed system with confusing jargon. In the end I came to realize it was the second option—there was no there there.