> As an engineer, you should always be writing code with a absolutely minimal defect rate and well-understood capabilities.

I think the problem with the purists is that this is just a moral claim - it's not based on how businesses + marketplaces actually work. The lower you attempt to crank the defect rate (emphasis on the word "attempt"), the slower you will iterate. If you iterate too slow, you will be out-competed. End of discussion. This is as true in open-source as it is in enterprise SaaS. And in any case, you're just begging the question: how do we determine the "absolutely minimal" rate in advance?

> you can strive to write adaptable code that can accomodate those iterations.

This is a damaging myth that has wasted countless hours that could have otherwise been spent on fixing real, CURRENT problems - there is no such thing as writing "adaptable" code that can magically support future requirements BEFORE those requirements are known. If you were that good at predicting the future you would be a trader, not an engineer.

I mostly agree with you.

In first few iterations of writing the code, you often don't have complete picture of capabilities, capabilities change on the fly dictated by change in requirement. There is no baseline of what minimal defect rate it. Over period of time and iterations you build that understanding and improve the code and process.

I'm not saying that you don't think before you write code but often over thinking leads of unnecessary over engineering and unwanted complexity