The dotCrime Manifesto

Chapter 3. Learning from Mistakes

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

—Albert Einstein

Mistakes are inevitable when a whole new form of engineering is being discovered. A greater challenge for the engineering architect is the cumulative legacy of decisions made for good reason in the past that severely constrain the present.

My native city, Chester, was founded by the first engineers—Roman soldiers. The name comes from the Latin castra meaning fort. Chester Castle has controlled traffic on the river Dee for more than two thousand years. Even though most of the historic remains are much more recent and few buildings in the city have more than four or five centuries of history, the layout ...