Ironically, this looks like a bullshit article to me. I have no idea what is the experience level of the author, but as a senior developer, several times I have "created a framework" (and a quite useful one at that) which not only made the problem solving manageable for myself, also resulted in clean readable code which is maintainable for others in the team as well.
Also, don't underestimate the real need of refactoring at times. There's no red/yellow flag here. Sure, we can keep postponing that and create bigger mess - which is a decision we do have to take at times to avoid last minute bugs, but that still doesn't mean the developer is bullshitting when he says he needs to refactor some old ugly code.
Also, don't underestimate the real need of refactoring at times. There's no red/yellow flag here. Sure, we can keep postponing that and create bigger mess - which is a decision we do have to take at times to avoid last minute bugs, but that still doesn't mean the developer is bullshitting when he says he needs to refactor some old ugly code.