I agree, although it's a somewhat sensitive thing to write about if you're doing it in practice. I sure as hell don't want to be known as the guy who comes in and calls all of the existing code a pile of shit.

I guess I could "change the names to protect the innocent" and tell some stories about digging out of tight places incrementally. If it would convince even one development team that they didn't absolutely have to do a total rewrite, it would be worth it.