Not if you write it in Common Lisp. Seriously, I have put a lot of Common Lisp code into production and it just doesn't have these problems because of its abil

Not if you write it in Common Lisp. Seriously, I have put a lot of Common Lisp code into production and it just doesn't have these problems because of its ability to redefine classes on the fly. Combine that with an ORM that issues the right ALTER TABLE commands and all but the most radical design changes are completely turnkey, no stick figures needed.