It is certainly true, if there is absolutely no time to clean up, there is nothing to do be done about it. However I think there are too points to consider her

It is certainly true, if there is absolutely no time to clean up, there is nothing to do be done about it. However I think there are too points to consider here. First, cleaning up code is a skill and as such it improves with practice. That is the more you get used to fixing code quality the faster you are at it and the easier it is to include it under time pressure. If you are never given the opportunity to do it, there is no chance to become more efficient at it and there will never be enough time to do it inefficiently. (The above is IMHO even more true about testing.) Second, it is the favorite excuse of the lazy programmer. "Pragmatism", etc. From the outside it's hard to distinguish between lacking time and lacking willingness.