When it comes to craftsmanship, beauty and skill still matter. Donald Knuth titled his greatest work The Art of Computer Programming. Of course, Dr. Knuth earned his Ph.D in mathematics, and mathematicians aren't afraid to talk about beauty.
I have spent a great portion of my career working in Process Improvement and Quality Improvement. If the real goal of the effort was getting better--increasing personal productivity and decreasing defects--perhaps I should have focused my time and effort on learning to write more beautiful code. Somehow, I think Dr. Austin would be proud.