I've found that I can win over my immediate superiors with low level grumbling about real technical issues in the code base. They eventually internalize the sta

I've found that I can win over my immediate superiors with low level grumbling about real technical issues in the code base. They eventually internalize the state of the code base and have realistic expectations for how long things will take. The key is to diplomatically voice all your WTF moments, and have a boss technical enough to get it. Problem is their bosses still think that the spaghettified joke that is the internal framework we have to use is manna from heaven and would take a very dim view of anyone caught trashing it in the open.