Doug, thank you for your input!

I agree with you that no one should follow best practices religiously. Unfortunately they can get under programmers’ skins, though, and they end up applying them even when they’re not appropriate. This mainly concerns junior developers, but I found it important to point out.

And you’re absolutely right that unit tests can be a life savior sometimes. And that coding in a hurry can lead to poor results.

The issue is that best practices are a two-edged sword: they can save weeks, even months of time, because they catch bugs before they happen. On the other hand they can be an extreme time dump if used excessively.

Balance is key.

Thanks again for your response, Doug!