Every Line of Code is a Liability

Published on 08 October 2024 by Craig Sturgis

There are a lot of surprising or counterintuitive things about making software products.

One of the biggest? Every line of code is a liability.

Hopefully, it's net positive on the ledger. A lot of times, it's not.

Many people in this business think adding more software is always good - more features, more integrations, more checkboxes on the RFP. More = better right?

But, more features come with more bugs, more maintenance responsibility, and more attack surface.

I've worked on or with lots of teams that are being held back by features being used by only a handful of people but that they can't bring themselves to kill off.

The best way to bend this reality? Visibility on where the team's time is going.

When the maintenance work isn't visible, it can slowly, silently drain capacity and enthusiasm.

As a result, progress slows to a crawl. Shine a light! 🔦

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