I'm not really a React fan, but you could have encountered all of these problems regardless of what you'd chosen to use. Sounds like the writer had good intentions and worked hard to do the right things, but that there were fundamental misalignments beyond the technology. Could they have planned ahead for those conflicts? Maybe. But, as noted in one of the paragraphs, enterprise type projects have a way of taking on a life of their own even when all parties have the best of intensions - and in many projects, not all parties actually have the best intensions. Heck, I've seen projects get started and deliberately set up to fail as a counterbalance to some other project. Live and learn.