I think the GP is describing an artistic/hobbyist view of software development. If you're doing it purely for your own enjoyment, with no external requirements

I think the GP is describing an artistic/hobbyist view of software development. If you're doing it purely for your own enjoyment, with no external requirements to constrain you, you can take all the time you want and follow whatever process you want and try to achieve whatever you consider to be perfection. This contrasts sharply with professional software development, where you are building software for a purpose and often within a specified budget and timescales. In this case, you can't be selfish any more, because the whole reason for what you're doing is to satisfy the need of someone else. Processes and tools that you can happily ignore on your fun projects become relevant. Being unwilling or unable to work effectively with other developers or with people who have different roles on the project team makes you almost worthless. Taking risks that no-one else knows about becomes a danger to the whole project. Your goal isn't to achieve perfection, it's to deliver software that meets the requirements, on time, on budget, to an acceptable standard.