systemd desperately needs competition. it isnt just that it became a dependency for every low level service and a potential vector for privacy invasion, it's also janky to use.
Maybe it's too late.
LP is cooking a way to deny system modifications [1]
It's far from janky, at least compared to what else is out there for Linux. If you're not writing systemd service files, you're almost surely back to writing unpredictable 80s style scripting jank.
I don't think it's janky though. It's pretty great. It has an answer to everything I've ever needed from it.