[phs318u]

> I did a lot of unwinding hidden dependencies

So, you got plenty done.

As you say, "It's complicated in a way that teenage me never really had to deal with". And that's really the nub of it. Not all complexity is reducible. But many of us can't escape the notion (perhaps an evolutionary drive?) that "there's gotta be a simpler way". To your example, if you hadn't unwound those hidden dependencies, perhaps you would have experienced more severe consequences at the wrong end of the process. So well done you for clearing your path.