Author fails to acknowledge that there are many fields where we ship only once and we should strive towards that if we want to avoid running firmware updates on our ultrasonic knives.

While we talk about maintainability, we all admire Fast Inverse Square algorithm.

Optimize for what best serves your purpose. If you have high team fluctuation, optimize for readability. If you develop a spacecraft, optimize for safety. If you ship audio gear, optimize for latency.