[ThalesX]

> Being able to inspect the state of systems, and being able to manually change things in software, is incredibly valuable.

I was hired as a CTO for a start-up that had a shitty solution (bad performance, bad practices - such as storing passwords in plaintext and customer service would just copy the password and log in the customer's account manually).

They had a custom back-end where they were basically handcuffed to a couple of flows. They couldn't see the full state of the system. Not even a fraction of it. Everyone hated it to the point where most were using whiteboards to work.

My first move was to normalize the database and throw in an off the shelf back-end where they got access to the full state of the system (with some aspects of course conveniently configured out).

Then, based on their own whiteboard flows and how they were using the new all you can eat back-end, we implemented a number of flows that mapped to how they actually worked. This is on top of being able to manually pull any switch. From what I could tell, they loved it, both the freedom and the ease.

It was truly satisfying to see those empty whiteboards.

[jddj]

> It was truly satisfying to see those empty whiteboards.

The true measure of success of LoB apps. That, and genuinely insightful feature requests rather than workarounds