Yup. Heuristics over algorithms is The Correct Answer™ (for UX).
I once wrote a bespoke query parser for an in-house full text search app. Spent most of my time doing fit and finish for the domain specific stuff. Looked at logs of actual user searches, before and after. Even did usability testing. (Who does that any more?)
End result was "invisible", because it just worked. Totally unattainable if I'd relied solely on stock tool stack.
I once wrote a bespoke query parser for an in-house full text search app. Spent most of my time doing fit and finish for the domain specific stuff. Looked at logs of actual user searches, before and after. Even did usability testing. (Who does that any more?)
End result was "invisible", because it just worked. Totally unattainable if I'd relied solely on stock tool stack.