[shiven]

However if you want to write a deployment script, it also lets you, rather than fighting it kicking and screaming :)

A thousand times this! I, personally, find YAML easier to grok than whatever Puppet was using (see, post-puppet PTSD selective amnesia). And, anything that doesn't work, on a deadline, can be shell scripted now and modularized later.

[zwischenzug]

"can be shell scripted now and modularized later"

Only true if by "later" you mean "probably never".