@Benjammer: what you say sounds so unlike what happened that I can only take it that our process was a mess. You final line about real business goals summed up a lot of what should have been, but wasn't, considered there.

@nradov: Nope, no 'user stories', whatever they are.

There were a lot of other bad decisions at the company. Some really stupid stuff. I don't suppose they'll last much longer. Thanks to you both. I'll spend this eve reading up on Agile.