Use Inventor Direct Edit on Solid Body Models Only

I believe the part modeling command "Direct Edit" was introduced in Inventor 2015 and it is a life saver when you part model is a conversion of neutral CAD format, such as SAT, Step and models exported from other CAD applications.  This article is written to demonstrate why this command should never be used on a feature rich part model.  When I see the use of the "Direct Edit" command in a normal Inventor part model it is for two reasons, the user does not know how to use Inventor or they are just plain lazy.

I can demonstrate my point very quickly by using the simple model shown below.

This part was modeled as a revolved feature so I first want to take a look at the feature sketch.  Please note the length of the larger diameter end, it is 15mm from the outside angle edge.

Now I will add 10mm to this length using the "Direct Edit" command. 

Once I apply this "Direct Edit" move the model is updated and the length of the large diameter end measures 25mm as you would expect.  

I may escape with my poor editing technique until someone who knows the correct method of editing the diameter's length attempts to edit the length using the sketch profile dimension.  When the sketch is open it still shows the length of 15mm and lets say they add 5mm to make it 20mm and update the model.  What will the length of the large diameter be when you measure it this time?  You are correct if you guessed 30mm.

The values I am using here are rather large and the error will probably be recognized but what if the changes were only 0.5mm?  No one probably would have caught the incorrect model dimension until the part was fabricated and would not fit into the assembly.

So you can visually see why using the "Direct Edit" command on a featured model is asking for trouble.  Reserve it for the solid body models where it is a life saver when you have to edit a size parameter.