The Indy 500 analogy is probably why I read the article, so I can't slam that, or the spirit of the article - sure standards make things better. I'm kind of lost on the author's perspective though. I don't know of any shop that doesn't work to or towards standards and I certainly don't know of any where the apps and db folks work in vacuums and do not collaborate with each other. Maybe that's the joy of smaller companies, I do both db and front-end work, as do most of the people I work with and we work on things collectively. My boss would sure love something that makes the learning curve less daunting for the "next" guy, but then I would as well as at some point I am very likely to be the new guy again. Kind of stating the obvious, but the author spent a lot or words likewise. I think the article should have focused on the product and concept and less on the homily. Just my 2 cents.