I can believe that such power can be achieved and scale within a single department-size group of "smart people".

The problem appears if or when you want to share the code between departments or give it to the world. Give "clever code" to someone who simply doesn't understand the whole process and they turn into a "dud developer" no matter how otherwise intelligent they are.

(And what's with down-voting the parent? It's a fair point even if I'm not in agreement)