Hacker News Reader

The problem is clean code is only a net gain when it sticks around. So, some teams are toxic to clean code. Let's refactor to use library X, no wait, libarary Y. There is a conflict with foo unless you use bar version 0.37c. Or the classic: "Works on my machine."

View on HN

I used to think it had to stick around for some time. In practice you start paying for bad code after about a month and you pay back many times over. If a bunch of people are throwing poor code in, the payback becomes exponential before you know it.

Most of my work at the moment is done for a client which had exactly this problem, and it nearly destroyed their business. I came in about two years into the cleanup and things were still a mess. With a lot of work all around (and some pushing by me to focus on code contracts more), things have continued to steadily improve.

But the problem you mention is real and it can sink businesses.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com