I have found that people who are able to defy conventional wisdom are, paradoxically, usually those who put even greater than normal focus on the core truth tha

I have found that people who are able to defy conventional wisdom are, paradoxically, usually those who put even greater than normal focus on the core truth that the conventional wisdom is based upon. For example, someone on a team who is a "lovable jerk" is usually the person who, although rough in their presentation, is always willing to help others and put the team first. On the other hand, people who claim they are the exception to the rule usually do it as an excuse for not focusing on the core truth behind the rule. In the same way, I think the problem with "prefer code to comments" is that people often miss that it actually requires even greater focus on communicating your intention to others (e.g. via methods like declarative programming and meaningful names).