The project was a large system conversion, moving from one hardware platform to another and from one software system to another. This work was the result of a hostile acquisition between two large financial companies, and the “losers” on the side of the acquired company were required to participate in requirements definition and system testing, but they didn’t want to do it.

I was an IT programmer on that project. I remember that users were friendly and offered to freshen up my coffee, but defining requirements lagged, testing systems lagged, and there were numerous unforeseen enhancements that suddenly had to be incorporated in…