Yeah, we all own all code, if we can't understand the code we own, we study it. If we need to change it, we change it.

"Legacy" for me is a bad word. I refuse to use it, and I scold my colleagues when they do: it's our code, we modernize it if we don't like it, and if we stop using it, then it's finished code. What is this false dichotomy between legacy code and "not in prod yet code" ?

In companies we call our regulatory prosecutions for fraudulent behavior that are so complex that they last for 10 years "legacy matters". Do you think that points at a statement of factual representation, or at a ridiculous attempt at distancing ourselves from our actual responsibilities ?

A program is not a novel, despite the arguments of literate programming fans. It is more like interactive fiction. In the small, it is just short pieces of text. In the large, there is an invisible network connecting each of them. And the challenge you are facing when assigned to legacy code, is to make changes in the small pieces of text that are consistent with that network, or even sometimes changing the connections.