[lhnz]

I think perhaps conservative means something different to you that it does to me.

You can write code conservatively by avoiding higher-level abstractions and preferring boring technologies. If you look at the engineering indulgences discussed within the article, they are all things that you can conservatively avoid without any prior understanding of the problem.

The intuition behind this approach is described within Sandi Metz's "The Wrong Abstraction" talk (https://sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstraction).

I also disagree that zero mental stamina should be spent on anyone that isn't between the chair and the keyboard. If you're a software engineer working within a company, the approach should generally be understandable by your team at least.