>Ah .. that "hobby programmer" syndrome. It's one of our worst nightmares!!! And the conversation always starts with, "Can't you just ....". ;-)
>
>< lol >!!!! That sure sounds familiar. The funny thing is that sometimes he really does come up with some good ideas that simplify things that I am trying to over engineer so, once he explains the business problem, I try to keep an open mind < s >.

I've been in the "hobby {insert specialty here}" role a few times, so I know the level of frustration the guy may get :). After a while I just had to risk asking a stupid question - and it sometimes worked :). The guy knows the matter at hand, the specialists know their tools. It doesn't mean that everybody sees every aspect of the thing all the time, so a fresh pair of eyes may prove insightful. Sometimes they even see the elephant in the room.

It's after the fourth question which began with "can't you just..." and was accepted as a good idea, when the guy starts thinking he now knows your job, that he becomes dangerous :).