[tikhonj]

A problem I've seen in programming too: understanding and articulating the value of quality is necessary but nowhere near sufficient for actually doing good work! So you end up with folks who've gotten past the initial hurdle—developing taste and confidence—but, either individually or in an organizational context, are only able to do okay quality work. Not awful but not especially elegant or insightful either.

And so we get people making totally reasonable arguments about the value of design and then producing polished but tasteless and shallow corporate products. Or we get people who start understanding the value of maintainable, understandable code, but get stuck on design patterns, "clean code" rules and "best practices" rather than conceptually clear, coherent and effective code design.

I have some sympathy. Getting past that initial hurdle rests on skills and tacit knowledge that take time, practice and mentorship to build after you've developed an appreciation for good taste. And, especially in a corporate setting, you have to get most of that practice and mentorship in public.