"Business processes are often these gnarly heaps of rules with massive omissions, contradictions, and bits where what people say they do has no relation to what actually happens."
Exactly!
Which is what makes analysis so important even though it's (usually) so overlooked. Put the right people in a room together with all of their paperwork (actual, not samples) and keep asking questions until everyone agrees THAT's how it works. Feed them if you must, but nobody leaves the room until we all agree. Then go to the office, warehouse, showroom, factory floor, or whereever and verify it.
It doesn't matter how well you can code or how fast you can code if you're not writing the right program.
Exactly!
Which is what makes analysis so important even though it's (usually) so overlooked. Put the right people in a room together with all of their paperwork (actual, not samples) and keep asking questions until everyone agrees THAT's how it works. Feed them if you must, but nobody leaves the room until we all agree. Then go to the office, warehouse, showroom, factory floor, or whereever and verify it.
It doesn't matter how well you can code or how fast you can code if you're not writing the right program.