[hackshack]

This reminds me of the Calculator Construction Set story. I like its example of a builder (engineer) working with a curator (boss), and solving the problem with toolmaking.

Engineer was building a calculator app, and got a little tired of the boss constantly requesting changes to the UI. There was no "UI builder" on this system so the engineer had to go back and adjust everything by hand, each time. Back and forth they went. Frustrating.

"In a flash of inspiration," as the story goes, the engineer parameterized all the UI stuff (line widths, etc.) into drop-down menus, so boss could fiddle with it instead of bothering him. The UI came together quickly thereafter.

https://www.macfolklore.org/Calculator_Construction_Set.html