In my opinion Helm is to kubernetes as Docker-compose is to docker
There is no reason to fear helm, as in it's most basic functionality, all it does is similar to kubectl apply -f templates.
Once you get familiar with helm you can start using values.yaml and adding values into your kubernetes templates for maximum flexibility.
values.yaml
name: my-name
inside templates/deployment.yaml
name: {{ .Values.name }}
https://helm.sh/
My approach is to create a helm subdirectory in each project, the same way that I include a docker-compose.yml file.
in addition to this, you can also maintain a helm repository for all your projects which reference images that are pre-built
