"Trust but Verify" has no place in systems engineering or project management. That may seem incorrect, but the fallacy is in the misapplication of this Cold War Era quip from the Gipper (former President Reagan) in engineering and project management settings. These latter disciplines have verify built in, in design reviews, control gates, milestones and the like. In engineering and PM, we constantly verify what we have done, what we are doing, and what we are about to to, not because of some doubt of trust, but because we recognize and accept as humans doing technical and complex work, verifying and checking our work is just common sense due diligence. Reagan's Trust but Verify was in a totally different context, between advisories, not working together but toward their own distinct ends. Don't misapply this canard in the wrong setting. It is insulting to others and actually destroys trust by saying "I don't trust you" in engineering and PM settings. In these settings, verification is routine and an ongoing process, not because of a lack of trust, but because of a mutual desire to get it right the first time.
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