Documentation shortcomings

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I can still do the hand assembly if I have to but then some of that is down to the detail checking I do when writing new functions you need to trust.

I am in wholehearted agreement with you.

There are too many places where that happens. The new guys are clueless once the knowledgeable person has moved on. Unfortunately, clients tend not to figure that you may need time to reverse engineer a component that they have already selected for inclusion and insist is used (usual symptom of getting asked to help out on projects are already in trouble and they look to someone to help pull them out of the mire).

One client I worked with took this to the extreme. They had drawings for every nut, bolt and washer (type and dimension), the placement of every cable and cable clip on the machinery and views inside the junction boxes drawn to show every wire to every terminal including detail down to the text on the wire label. The protocols for communications links were very clearly shown in Time Sequence diagrams. Problems found during development were many and varied but resolved. Problems delivered to the end customer; zero.

It might seem like a cost to be this details but the benefits far out-weigh that cost.

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I lost my last "hand assembler" soon after the i8080 was announced. Haven't made another, since! :>

That's one of the "tricks" you learn from experience (padding to cover those issues). Biggest problem is walking into a situation that *appears* "well documented" -- only to discover all the dox are sh*t! :<

Ouch! But, sounds more like "visual aids" for assembly? I.e., big process control systems where the "schematic" is a hilarious understatement of the actual (miles of) wire used.

Finding problems on paper is *so* much easier than having to go poking around "investigating". And, usually a lot easier to

*fix* (with a pen!)

I'm sure scale plays a big factor. But, regardless of scale, you still need to know what your goal is -- "deliverables" -- so you know where you are *going* and when you've *arrived*!