Boss: Our app is to memory consuming and heavy weighted. We to do something because we will have hunsdrets of thousands of users.

Dev: Yes, there are a lot of legacy parts which leave plenty of space for optimization. Every query have to be carefully analyzed. Some can be avoided at all.

Boss: We pay externals to do some clustering with our app.

Okay, I'm gonna explain it to you Boss.

Let's say metaphorically you're the representation of performance, resource usage and complexity. Complexity is important - as someone has to maintain the app.

Currently, the app is one stone.

If I throw one stone / one app on your foot, you will walk slowly... That's current state. It works, but isn't fast and it hurts. Stone on foot hurts.

Clustering.... Well. I'll many stones at you.

Face, legs, arms,... Maybe you catch a few fast enough, but the rest will hit you.

Hurts much more, hmkay?

"Lets throw more hardware at the problem"
"What? 40k$ per month server costs?"

If they need you to do something about it, why are they paying someone else for something else?

@asgs because they don't imagine me how much it can be imrpoved i suppose.

Most managers have a very limited mindset.

If something isn't working right, they think that those who made it can't fix it.

In a lot of cases this is true... As some dev teams are so incompetent not even a saint would give them a second chance to fix their wrongdoings.

But in those cases where the devs weren't at fault, thus deserved a second chance - there's a high probability that bad management caused it.

Now there's another thing most managers have a problem with: admitting fault.

Getting a 3rd party involves is often a very sad and backfiring attempt to divert the mismanagement by framing a 3rd party if things go south.

Then there's the thing what managers excel at - especially those who are the worst of the worst - buying time.

After all, even if everything goes south, involving a 3rd party takes some sweet time.

Longer period of being on the job, longer time getting loan and possibly higher profit from being fired and / or time to plan a new gig.