If it's simple "stuff it in, pull it out" stuff, sure. Having things like validations and callbacks and association sugar and the like are really nice, though,

If it's simple "stuff it in, pull it out" stuff, sure. Having things like validations and callbacks and association sugar and the like are really nice, though, in cases beyond the very simple. I think the point is to let you focus more on writing business logic, and less on mucking about with your underlying datastore. If it works as promised, then it could very certainly result in a productivity gain.