How are developers supposed to manage and coordinate fast-moving, heterogeneous systems including maintenance & operations — and free themselves to build?
Developers are operating and building in more and more heterogeneous and complex systems. This article offers some thoughts on how to think about "developer experience" in this world that's increasingly more like a "rainforest" than a "well tended garden".
I can't help it, I will succumb to the temptation and extend the analogy: Only in a rainforest, evolution of the developers can happen. A well tended garden would be good for productivity, but bad for creativity.
I think you can have a well tended garden without giving up creativity.
You're not sacrificing creativity by practicing structures, considerations, and methodologies that maintain or improve the developer experience with whatever creative endeavor you're on.
The structure of your garden doesn't prevent you from playing around with new plants, it just outlines a set of patterns and expectations known to drive better outcomes.
I'm not saying that your extension of the analogy is bad I'm just disagreeing with some of the premise.