I agree with you in the following scenario: small team (<20 dev), manageable codebase size (~ 200K line), and enough budget to keep the project running without

I agree with you in the following scenario: small team (<20 dev), manageable codebase size (~ 200K line), and enough budget to keep the project running without too much specialization. If you cannot keep the project within those parameters, code nazi is unfortunately the way to go. For most people on HN that should be another day at work, for entreprise backoffice system developers like me, that's a rare sight. And in any case it all breaks down without great communication between team members and compatible code culture (i.e. there is some way for the whole team to agree on something and apply it without childish guerrilla resistance )