As an aside: I've not written much lately because I'm working for a non-open-source company, which limits what I can talk about without crossing IP boundaries. I've decided to start posting again but will have to be a bit vague.
My company's roots are in web application development. This seems to contribute to a more horizontal rather than structured architectural style: all groups for themselves, each working on small user-facing features. There is a general principle that everyone is allowed to check code into anyone's area: code "ownership" is discouraged.
I find this a problem. At this point our codebase is quite large. No one, not even the principals of the company, understand it all; I routinely ask them questions and get back answers like "well, it's been a while since I worked on that so I'm not sure." But at the same time, no one can fully understand even the piece they work on, because it has been partied on by a myriad of developers, few of whom were well versed in its design, its test suite, its intentions, its history.
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