Often times I get frustrated with the second type you describe because they seem to assume that I have deliberately (or otherwise) chosen to do something suboptimal out of laziness or neglect when often it is simply from not being a subject matter expert myself.
There is a lot to be said for not taking any shit when it comes to getting things right in a project. However, I think that the most brilliant engineer is the one who helps people who make mistakes or are not as smart/experienced as they. Implying the only reason someone would not do "The Right Thing" is because they're bad is a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.
While the objects in the pools or stacks may seem transient (on your screen for only a few moments), one simple technique is to only allocate those objects at load time and then flip them in an "on" or "off" state during gameplay. That way you're not doing any real allocation after your game space has loaded.
Can you explain more about what in UIs you think has gone downhill? I've seen you refer to this idea in quite a few of your comments and it would be great to get insight on what aspects you think need improving/exterminating/rethinking.
There is a lot to be said for not taking any shit when it comes to getting things right in a project. However, I think that the most brilliant engineer is the one who helps people who make mistakes or are not as smart/experienced as they. Implying the only reason someone would not do "The Right Thing" is because they're bad is a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.