[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.