You can't solve everything with numbers, and I say this as someone who believes very strongly in data-driven decision-making. Even given perfect data as far as

You can't solve everything with numbers, and I say this as someone who believes very strongly in data-driven decision-making. Even given perfect data as far as what practices are more effective, you still have the problem of interpreting it. This adds its own layer of purely personal and political choices. My advice? Don't work with people whose best practices are your anti-patterns. Or at least strive to work with people who agree with you on a core set of principles. Or hell, work with people who agree with you on nothing. Just don't complain when you can't work with any of them. :-) And besides that, what's wrong with "purely personal and political choice[s]"? Being that I'm the person who's writing my code, I'm allowed to make a certain number of purely personal choices. That is, as long as I take into account the political consequences of doing so. Put another way, it's ok to have personal preferences, but you have to take other peoples' feelings into account too.