... then the communication issues (which maintainability really boils down to) would have been minimized.

All of my attempts to contribute to the meat of this thread are as nought as compared to the contribution of that single phrase, indeed just the parenthesised part of that phrase, though the context is helpful.

I learned a while ago, somewhat less than 5 years, and entirely as a consequence of coming to this place, that it is always a good idea to review each communication to which one has contributed, at least several hours after one contibutes. And often again, a few days after that. I have often been surprised by the affect the later contributors had upon my opinions, but never more so that right now.

As a complete aside, you deserve a whatever 'the poetic prose equivalent of a booker prize' is, for "... like digital free radicals in a pristine body of code.". And the fuddy dudies think that poetry reached its zenith with the Bard.