There’s another way out of this problem, but you have to focus on making the code dead obvious and simplify the tools for working with it.

That work doesn’t just pay off in rampup time. True, people can figure things out quicker. It’s easier for early career developers to transition to senior positions. It’s less likely for someone to vastly overrun estimates for tricky new features when the code is well factored. But it’s also about scaling your company up.

When your company gets bigger, you will have more than one project. You need to be able to remove people from project A without killing it, and occasionally bring people back to project A at a later date.

These things have been a constant source of drama everywhere I’ve worked where there “wasn’t enough time” to follow my recommendations. The projects grind to a halt and eventually they lose so many of the old people they have to start over. But it’s the same management style so the process repeats.