The first focus must be on "what should be done for product values in the real world?".

That requires consideration of the operating environment, user needs, and economics (which contrary to popular marxist-like belief does not reward "cheap" or "shady" in the long run, but does require rational attention to costs and benefits including flexible strategy - I reject a split between safety and economics).

Quoting Flitestar President Tom Peghiny: "The things required under certification are the things you do anyway to meet the customer's expectations." - General Aviation News, September 14, 2001.

The poster child industry for missing the need to do the technical work was inflight entertainment.
Companies lost money because they did not do things they didn't "have to" do by regulation.
Being a non-essential not-required system the regulations required only that it not interfere with systems important to flight of the aircraft. Yet those things were necessary for functionning reliable product. Some people learned the hard way in that industry. (One subsidiary of an established avionics company, with local management having much avionics experience, exitted the industry because its reputation was shattered by unreliable product.)

A simple example of the variability of installation work is the case of a fuel flow sensor on a small airplane. It was installed close to exhaust tubing with two 90 degree fittings between the mechanical fuel pump and flow sensor. The aircraft was released into service.
Owner's troubleshooting of short term variations in engine output revealed the incompetent work. The sensor manufacturer's web site advises the 90 degree fittings will cause cavitation in the fluid flow (and heat does not help that). But installers should not need manufacturer's information to recognize the possibility or at least get help with installation design.

An example of the problem with software that "appears to work" is provided in my scanner information page. The default software mode of "detect regions" caused loss of data as small as a single character, which might not be obvious to the user.

And even the entertainment industry wants reliability: "Film makers are particular about the products they use.
"The thing about the film industry is they have the money, they do not have time," he said. "There's no allowance for mistakes, the product has to work."
------- Mark Obedzinski, manufacturer of a special effects consumable for the movie industry, quoted in the Vancouver Sun of May 13, 2002

And Transport Canada's experienced maintenance policy development chief Brian Whitehead:
"No one can have more influence on the conduct of a company than its owner."
(from his article The Role of the Certificate Holder, in Air Maintenance Update magazine of late 2002)

INFORMATION