the person who built the engine wasn't paying attention
Never happened to me - my cat immediately detects any errors.

No one noticed that geo remark?
"Brandes’ method, at rest (valve closed, pushrod not lashed), the tip is centered over the valve-stem tip both longitudinally (edge-on) and laterally (side-on). Shim the shaft spacers and shaft pedestals as needed to get there. Using an adjustable checking pushrod and light checking springs, set the preliminary valve lash to zero, and adjust pushrod length to achieve minimum motion off-center through the cam cycle."

I've been doing this stuff for 40 years, and I have no idea what he said. I'll bet Marlan Davis didn't either.