I don't think this is minimalism though, this seems somewhat informed by "a picture is worth a thousand words" (hence an icon suffices). Let's not kid ourselves, designer just need to justify getting paid.

A programmer suggesting a "refactoring" of the whole codebase is often frowned upon (yet happens). On the design side it feels like the opposite, if a designer doesn't come up with some sort of overhaul every year, they, or their boss will feel insecure or something.