Half is a very, very conservative estimate. Hell, Linux was made 'just cause'.

Though I do agree to a great extent - I also think Linux was made (iterated, improved upon, invested in by so many) with pragmatism and 'customer' (i.e. users) satisfaction in mind - it just happens to be free. Meaning, a great deal of the same 'outcome orientation' without being so overtly commercial.

The reason that Linux took off was because it gave the FSF a working operating system kernel they could use to build their UNIX replacement. It was a rare case where someone's personal project matched perfectly with the needs of a group they were associated with. People wanted a replacement OS and Linus delivered just enough people could make that happen.

Unless they’re your customers, worry not about the nerd-crew. They’re (we’re?) often an anti-signal if anything.

Or they make up the majority of your company :)

I think we're all part of this on some level.

It depends on your customer. If you happen to sell api services make sure the public face is at an acceptable level.

In the backend make it work. Later make it perfect, scalable, etc when new features demand it.