The Law of the Lid vs. Test Equipment

Test equipment has to be higher quality than the item being tested.

Test software has to be more complex than the software being tested.

This is why the law of the lid by John C. Maxwell is true.  You can only be evaluated by someone who is better than you, whether it be as a musician, a horseman, or a software engineer.

At some level, you have to develop a system that does not require these sorts of evaluations, because there is no one who can evaluate your best people.

This is related to the law of unintended consequences.  Unintended consequences arise when a simple system is trying to control a more complex system.  For example, you couldn't fly an airplane if you could only control the pitch, but not the roll, yaw, or engines.  Adjusting the pitch will affect how the airplane flies, and you may think you are in control for a while, but eventually there will be behaviors that don't correlate with your attempts at control.

Another example of this is when the political system tries to control an economy.  Economies are the most complex systems in existence, which is why all attempts to control them fail.