It sounds like your lead developer is possibly out of his depth. Yes, all those solutions are no-brainers. Micro managers aren't the ones who dictate how parts

It sounds like your lead developer is possibly out of his depth. Yes, all those solutions are no-brainers. Micro managers aren't the ones who dictate how parts of the software should be written (especially in these cases - you have legitimate reasons for your chosen solutions); they're the ones who sit there constantly asking a developer "What are you doing? What are you doing now?". I have had micromanagers in the past, and it's not fun, but there really is a difference between a manager making clear decisions, and one who's messing with a developer. Seriously, though, if you have a lead developer who thinks that storing plain text passwords is a good idea (ESPECIALLY in a piece of software that has to comply with HIPAA standards), you should probably put him out of his misery, and out of your code base. No amount of "simpler administration" is worth plain-text passwords.