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Overwhelmed by a shitty codebase? Use the boy scout rule and leave the code you're editing a little better than you found it.

Worked wonders for me when I realized I could spend literal months refactoring and desperately needed a systematic approach.

Little by little that rotting house of cards will turn into something okay. It's a nice feeling looking back after a couple of months and see what you've done to make things better.

Also, make sure to remember the cost of wrestling with hurried legacy solutions in your estimates as well. Just adjust the level of bluntness depending on your work environment: admitting that things can/need to be improved can be unpleasant for some to hear even though it's true.

Comments
  • 4
    I like your attitude. Many ppl want to rewrite and throw away code but forget that while it may be ugly, not all things that look crap do so due to incompetence. Legacy code usually also contains many bugs fixed and workarounds for weird shit and edge cases.
  • 0
    @Hubot-0x58 not the same.. It has newer tech and we applied agile principles (agile meaning code fast, test later)
  • 1
    This commendable approach is not as easy as it used to be in modern environments.

    https://martinkolbblog.wordpress.com/...
  • 1
    @ihatecomputers true! Works for me every time! 😁
  • 2
    "Evolution not revolution"

    Document, automate and iterate often. Fight complexity everyday
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