I have written bad code. I recently re-gained a former client. I looked at the code and I couldn't believe I wrote it. But I started thinking about the things that happened during the project and realized that I had suggested rewriting the code several times and ended up patching the code to meet some new and different business requirement.

So when I start reviewing other's code I do it only to determine the structure and I have long stop judging code because I don't know the circumstances.

That's exactly a point I made last night...sometimes bad code (or bad approaches) are written by people who are in over their heads....or by people who in better circumstances would produce better results....or people who either think they know better (but don't) and/or try to mask bad practices.

I'll definitely admit I've done things I wish I'd done differently...sometimes it was my fault, and sometimes I was in a very tough spot.

I've learned to incrementally refactor (when possible).

One of the challenges I'm facing - it gets harder and harder to "walk away and think about it". Because this is a craft (or if we're all gardeners), some of our personal approaches come in. I need to sometimes get into the rarified air to really think about something and incorporate it into my thought processes. I don't like making quick decisions or quick judgments - but I've worked with some people over the last year who don't quite understand that (even when they should have seen the value).