"We did not understand the science of cutting," says Mr. McMurray, rubbing his hands together. "This is when you appreciate what a human can do."
The above is probably that hardest step engineers / programmers have to deal with when doing this type of thing. It comes sometime after the realization that some things human's do are pretty hard.
I think that one of the main "techniques" that humans use is continuous feedback - we don't decide exactly what path to use before we even start cutting, we just start cutting and see what happens and adjust as we proceed.
Probably, we are after all is said and done really high-end pattern matching machines and we keep thinking about things. I just wish more schools would teach what amazing pieces of work humanity is and save engineers a lot of startup time on new projects. It would be better if people started new projects with a respect for what humans can really do.
The above is probably that hardest step engineers / programmers have to deal with when doing this type of thing. It comes sometime after the realization that some things human's do are pretty hard.