I've worked with people who were TDD maximalists, Agile / Scrum maximalists, microservice maximalists, Gang of Four maximalists, and even a MongoDB maximalist.

I've worked with people who were TDD maximalists, Agile / Scrum maximalists, microservice maximalists, Gang of Four maximalists, and even a MongoDB maximalist. What has become clear to me is that the silver bullet doesn't exist. Pick the tool for the job, and accept that exceptions exist for every rule. The maximalist is too rigid, and in the rigidity is arrogance and ultimately failure. I would even say that if you take someone who is obsessed with something like TDD, and then ban all engineers from using TDD, it is quite possible you get a better product. You don't want TDD for every problem - sometimes it simply is a barrier to success.