It's not a question of "Do good Perl practices carry over to othe rcoding?", but rather "Do good coding practices carry over to Perl?".

Interesting point punchcard_don, but since this site caters to Perl, I think the original direction works best. But your point is well-taken.

"be safe and innovate". "Stay dry and get wet"

I meant "safe" as in "secure" as in untainting, using strict, etc. So, actually it is possible to be safe and innovative. However, your point about clients needing to get just get the job done is an important one. The mantra in our design firm has always been: "Communicate first, get cute second." Or, if it doesn't sell, what's the point.