[jofla_net]

True True, I remember another example, with Linus Torvalds, who at a conference used a trivial example of simplifying functions, as to why hes good at what he does, or what makes a good lead developer in general. It went something along the lines of.

"Well we have this starting function which clearly can solve the task at hand. Its something 99 developers would be happy with, but I can't help but see that if we just reformulate it into a do-while instead we now can omit the checks here and here, almost cutting it in half."

Now obviously it doesn't suffice as real-world example but, when scaled up, is a great view at what waste can accumulate at the macro level. I would say the ability to do this is tied to a survival instinct, one which, undoubtedly will be touted as something that'll be put in the 'next-iteration' of the model. Its not strictly something I think that can be trained to be achievable though, as in pattern matching, but its clearly not achievable yet as in your example from above.