Another useful rule is to think it terms of intentions and split to those individual intentions. You can always reduce code down to a single function call, but

Another useful rule is to think it terms of intentions and split to those individual intentions. You can always reduce code down to a single function call, but was that the original intention? Try to think as a reader that just stumbled on it without any other context. `result = DoEverything(payload)` is often less readable than `step1Result = DoImportantStep1(payload); finalResult = DoImportantStep2(step1Result);` if Step1 and Step2 mirror the actual process that goes in your mind when solving that particular problem, so when re-visiting you can understand what's going on faster, without having to visit the implementation of the single `DoEverything` function. Edit: To clarify a bit more, in contrast to the rule of six, i'd definitely keep a line that is more complex than usual but conveys the intention of my thinking, rather than splitting it to multiple lines and losing that important information, losing the original intention.