[staplung]

This feels a bit like the dicta on 12 Factor: rules handed down from a presumed authority without any discussion of the tradeoffs. Engineering is tradeoff evaluation. Give me some discussion about the alternatives, when and why they're inferior and don't pretend like the proposed solution doesn't have shortcomings or pitfalls.

[imiric]

I agree with you that tradeoff evaluation is crucial in engineering, but I don't see the 12 Factor methodology as a set of strict rules. They're more like guidelines that are generally a good idea to follow for building modern applications or services. Some of the suggestions apply for any type of software, like having a single version controlled codebase, separate build/release/run stages, and using stateless processes.

So it's good to be aware of _why_ those guidelines are considered a good thing, but as with any methodology, an engineer should be pragmatic in deciding when to follow it strictly, and when to adapt or ignore some of it.

That said, I wouldn't want to work on software that completely ignores 12 Factor.