I think part of it is why you are developing automation.
Is it to support physical reality? (things like hardware, or something that is clearly definable)
Is it to support soft concepts like ownership. or projecting the future?
They are <very> different.
I've almost always designed and code in the latter world. But then again, my academic background was micro/molecular biology, where a variance of 10 to the 3rd power was normal (among friends), and every rule was only a guideline, with lots of exceptions.
Not exceptions in realization, but exceptions in the underlying concepts you work with. Where you don't know all the inputs, all the outputs, or even all the rules. And never will.
Where whimsy and irrationality rule, with the money to back up those whimsies. Lots of money. . . Lots and lots and lots of money - with the "beeper" as your friend 24x6 or (7).
These environments will never achieve mathematical perfection, or follow mathematical rules.
But the money's good . . .
