But how much of that is small functions, and how much is just people blindly applying pattern after pattern while optimizing for business use-cases that are unl

But how much of that is small functions, and how much is just people blindly applying pattern after pattern while optimizing for business use-cases that are unlikely to ever emerge? That doesn't mean the patterns are bad, it doesn't mean small functions are bad, it just means the person who implemented them lacked good judgement. Good judgement is somewhat subjective. Fortunately, we can combat this subjectivity by looking at what the long term $ of a decision (programmer time, onboarding time, resources used...), how a particular decision advances an organization's objectives, etc. We need functionality, not code. That functionality exists to support (what should be) clearly defined interests and goals. "Right" code is code that serves the functionality, and therefore the goals, best.