Consultant pilot fish is on the team for an automation project at a steel mill, and the software is going to require a screen handler to manage how information is displayed on the new terminals.

“I went to my manager to discuss the options and costs,” says fish. “I was told that we couldn’t buy one. Instead, we should write our own.

“While I had never done so, I was familiar with some existing screen handlers so I had some ideas. From those ideas, I could estimate costs — and I knew that number would be much higher than the cost to buy an off-the-shelf product, without any significant advantage in features.

“Then I was informed of the actual situation.”

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