hakunamakaka
1000+ Head-Fier
You seem to be just as familiar with Agile/DevOps as you are with Ethernet/802 and USB.
Without a wireframe and detailed technical objectives of current and required behavior, how does the firmware developer know what to code and what Acceptance Testing success criteria needs to look like? Anyone writing firmware (other than very minor narrow changes) for an Ethernet switch will absolutely know the relevant segments of the 802 standards. In a mid size or larger company, there would need to be Change Documentation written and Change Management Process followed - can't write those if you don't understand the requirements and technology in scope.
Hate to break it to you, but as a software architect, not only do I care for how standards are implemented, I need to know enough to confirm the design and it's execution is aligned to the overall goals of the development initiative while still following standards for protocols, APIs, etc. Otherwise, instead of a heterogeneous product, you end up with a bunch of disconnected functionality that can't properly support the required workflow. Can't wait until the end of a 12 month development cycle to find out some crucial bit of code doesn't work...
Bottom line:
If you have a noisy DAC, its broken - get it fixed
If you have a noisy USB, put a $10 powered USB hub in the chain
No need for a multitude of fixes for problems that either don't exist or should be solved at the source.
Waterfall model works for smaller and not so complex projects, no need to preach me here. I haven't seen any 10$ usb hub which can help regards noise issues from PC
Anyways You got this "You know nothing, I know better attitude" for which I've got no interest