[dlwdlw]

From my experience telling people this doesn't work as everyone thinks they are smart enough to avoid the trap. Like many companies going into China assuming things will be easy. Code ends up complex yet works because the complexity was successfully wrangled, missing the point of complexity reduction rather than wrangling.

Thematically, it may be a result of obsession over tools instead of product which occurs in other areas like photography, writing(hipster typewriters), and others. In tech, technology as lever supports a "hacker" mindset of getting 10 for 1. However this misses the point of hacking to get around your weaknesses in order to focus on your core competency which MUST intrinsically have value instead of being an empty shell.

The core competency for many client side developers is probably more rooted in a form of design than pure technical ability. Design, like music, writing, speaking, and art have incredibly low barriers to entry. This can create an arrogant mindset from people coming from more rigorous disciplines. Instead of focusing on the thing that must be done, they try to take shortcuts that only have the appearance of reaching the goal.

[sillysaurus3]

One cure for this is to have someone who cares solely about simplicity, as an ideal above all else, in charge of technical decisions.

When you're hyper-vigilant about simplicity, you end up creating the simplest design that meets the goals. It takes a little extra time, but it's so worth it.