> "knock up" a quick GUI, hand it over to the dev team, and say "Here you go. Support this."
Isn't a GUI mockup one of the best ways to come up with a consistent set of requirements for software? At least by making the mockup in VB rather than drawing it on paper, it can serve as a start for the actual GUI part of the program.
You're speaking as a pro software dev (presumably), and yes, VB was great for prototyping.
The people I'm referring to didn't realise that such esoteric things as "requirements" or "prototype GUIs" were a thing, and just handed over a ball of spaghetti for us to support.
Thing is it was never a prototype, always the end product. Had a lot of Access systems that were created by people in their roles that got widespread use then grandfathered into general dev support too. These were always horrible but too big to change.
There have a few times that I presented a VB6 prototype along with a price and had my prototype purchased on the spot. Sometimes when a client says "We need this software now", they really mean it.
Isn't a GUI mockup one of the best ways to come up with a consistent set of requirements for software? At least by making the mockup in VB rather than drawing it on paper, it can serve as a start for the actual GUI part of the program.