Hack Value

It's a common theme in engineering -- engineers want to engineer.It's a fine line to walk between doing something that's cool because it's cool, and doing it because it's a good thing to do.A great example is the slightly retarded GPS in my Subaru. Someone thought it would be a good idea to give more human-like directions."Turn left after the gas station."Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Someone needs to consider the user experience of how all of this works when you actually use it.It's easy to go all engineery on something and have fun making something that's kinda cool. Cool to the engineer, but is it cool to use?