Kiss My Classname from Jeremy Zeldman

The codebase on big sites isn’t impenetrable because developers slavishly followed arbitrary best practices. The codebase is broken because developers don’t talk to each other and don’t make style guides or pattern libraries. And they don’t do those things because the people who hire them force them to work faster instead of better. It starts at the top. (emphasis added)

I added that emphasis because I thought it was a great point. It’s easy to point the finger and say “well it’s not my fault the codebase is impenetrable” but as a professional software engineer it’s your job to communicate the value and importance of a codebase that is comprehendible. Zeldman continues:

Employers who value quality in CSS and markup will insist that their employees communicate, think through long-term implications, and document their work. Employers who see developers and designers as interchangeable commodities will hurry their workers along, resulting in bloated codebases that lead intelligent people to blame best practices instead of work processes.

Great perspective, in my opinion, on organizational structure and effects on code. It’s always talked about how John or Jane Doe developer impacted the codebase, but people outside of the engineering department have an effect too. And that impact is not often talked about (or even perceived).