Most PHP developers start with MVC. You know where things go: controllers handle requests, models handle data, views handle output. Then the project grows, and the model becomes 800 lines of ORM queries, validation rules, and business logic fighting for space.
Most PHP frameworks are installed as Composer packages. They end up in vendor/, behind a version constraint, and you interact with them through their public API. You don't read the implementation. You don't modify it. When something breaks after an update, you adapt your code to match the new version.
You have been doing MVC for ten years. Someone drops "Clean Architecture" in a meeting. You nod.
But concretely, what becomes of your Model?
In many PHP projects, CQRS is applied systematically. Every operation goes through a Command or Query Bus, with handlers, middleware, and event dispatching. For a homepage that displays three statistics, that is pointless boilerplate.
CQRS is not the problem. Its systematic application is.
It is a common reflex: you start a project and rush into technical choices. PostgreSQL or MySQL? Docker or local database? Schemas, migrations, connections... Meanwhile, the real value of the project, the business logic, waits patiently for its turn.