Our group is composed of mostly non-Java developers.  We have recently started looking at error messages that have to bubble up to the ui.  The natural course is a resource/property file.

However, the implementation pattern we are to follow involves using a wrapper that has enum’s of every message (to avoid collision) which we must access to get to a resource.  So, every time we add a message we are also changing source code.

It seems to happen a lot in this company (and another defense co): we keep deciding that we can do something better than an off-the-shelf solution.  So, we put a wrapper around good, solid functionality that drops features and usually adds noise to the system for no other reason.

And further, the incumbent players will argue to death that wrapping is a good idea.

Just painful.