...and possibly during those 12 months have 12 people try to murder your code, i.e. expand its functionality. If the overall architecture, layout is clear, ther

...and possibly during those 12 months have 12 people try to murder your code, i.e. expand its functionality. If the overall architecture, layout is clear, there is a chance that they will expand, improve your code in the way that you originally intended. If it is messy and unclear, it will get more messy. (I'm currently doing a re-write of a huge project that grew over time, using these principles, trying to learn from what was not so nice in the old codebase)