[tadhgds]

Can you elaborate on why this was transformative?

The dropping of standards is always going to make things a bit easier on yourself but if there isn't really much more to it than that, is proclaiming "It's okay to be messy" really a good thing?

I don't think(I might be wrong) other engineering fields can get away so lightly with such attitudes, why do you think we can? Particularly in light of so many security disasters unfolding around us. How can you justify an attitude that seems to move in the opposite direction of where many believe we should be heading, i.e. tighter control, more strongly enforced standards and a distancing from the 'move fast, break stuff' ethos

[muzani]

Order has as many flaws as disorder. There's a balance in between.

Many of us are familiar with that balance in our daily lives; e.g. we don't mop the floor so clean we can eat off it. But code is often continually polished, refactored, documented as soon as there is the slightest smell.

We do keep tidy enough. The standards for office cleanliness never qualifies to surgery standards, and yet a lot of people like to compare their code to medical device safety levels.

Besides that, there is a clear structure to mess. Too much or too little order and you lose control. The right amount will give you the correct structure.