Unfortunately cargo cult architecture is the norm, and doing things right is the exception.
I worked at some place where the "architect" had designed a REST architecture that almost worked on a LAN, but run it over the WAN and it would take 40 minutes for the application to boot. I got that down to 40 seconds but had to fight over every inch because I was violating the architectural purity of the scheme.
One day he had such a freak-out that he had a vertigo attack we called the ambulance, but he refused to get in.
Then my boss quit and the out-of-town consultant told me that since he's the one who is inflexible, we should do it all his way. Well, a recruiter called the next day and I quit the day after that. Mr. Spaz left six months later.
Mr. Spaz was a big fan of guids because they were globally unique, but then he made a "guid" that was all zeroes and argued about that. Of course, a few years later I was working with a hotshot who didn't think guids would be unique so he had to add more stuff to them to make them so.
