Re:The Wrong Focus (Score 0)

But if the mistake is very costly; if it leads to the destruction of the shuttle and the deaths of all aboard, how do you propose to "fix" that?

This question does not give proper credit to the role of testing. If, in the course of testing the system, it is revealed that the system has costly failures that could possibly lead to the destruction of a shuttle, then those failures should be fixed.

During testing, which I agree is a large portion of the work involved in making a large system (and perhaps the portion of work that was not properly completed), engineers should have a very pessimistic focus. However, during the design of a system, the focus should be on success.

I have found, in about 25 years of work in software engineering, that a reliable system has to be designed to be reliable from the start; reliability cannot just be added later, like putting a hat on a horse.

I agree with you. However, I contend that one can design a reliable system with a focus on success.