I thing the idea behind the removing existing regulations rule works better for software than it does for laws. It basically boils down to Leave things tidier

I thing the idea behind the removing existing regulations rule works better for software than it does for laws. It basically boils down to Leave things tidier than when you arrived. No massive refactor projects, just fix up little things when you're in the area. Sure you never end up with a particularly nice codebase but it's not getting worse and it's not costing the business massive amounts to make something prettier for little benefit. Also works well with backlogs, especially for client projects, you want a new feature? what are you willing to drop off the backlog to get it? It's generally well known that most products contain a crap tonne of unused features and removing them reduces technical debt (eg potential bugs, overweight/slow apps). I don't see it as a hard rule to sell in software.