The problem I think is that at a certain point, it stops being an engineering problem and starts becoming an organization/communication/coordination problem. Yo

The problem I think is that at a certain point, it stops being an engineering problem and starts becoming an organization/communication/coordination problem. You could have all the best engineers but if they’re not coordinated correctly, it still becomes a mess. And that’s ignoring the problem that messes are inevitable, because programs must eventually deal with the real world, and the real world is a shitshow. Changing requirements, abominable external interfaces, business logic generally, etc. The main draw for unnecessarily messy codebase however is putting novices in charge, but you don’t need to overpay to avoid this (and you don’t really need the best of the best) — you need better selection practices, and I’m not sure anyone’s ever found a good way to select new resources (hiring interviews have at best a very spotty record, and a very shallow filter)