[echin]

I have seen a similar transition in my CAD, though I typically use a large number of connected sketches and work planes rather than a single sketch. Sometimes, this gets a bit extreme. For example, last season, 3467's drive base template had over 20 individual sketches on different planes.
I think for me, this CAD style is mostly driven by wanting all of my parts to update themselves when I make a change, which ultimately saves time and makes it much easier to make minor adjustments.