Waterfall Engineering, Legacy Hardware/Software, and the impact on Innovation.

Once apon a time, Waterfall Engineering began with an idea, then over the last 100 years it became  the continual refinement of that initial idea, while maintaining the maximum amount of proven hardware and/or software.

The most important thing to remember during Waterfall Engineering is that initial idea. Without that you and your team are:

          01. Polishing a turd.
          02. Putting extraneous features and functions onto a dedicated item. Which is not where they belong.
          03. Ruining something that is functional.

What's good about the waterfall approach?
     
          01. It can save money if you avoid #02 above.
          02. It can result in insanely reliable equipment.

Whats bad?
     
          01. It can hamper innovation at the start by neglecting new ideas as a conceptual start.
          02. It can result in dinosaur gear.