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I have a similar take on this, but expand it a bit by arguing that any line of code added – no matter how innocuous – is a liability. It's a line of code that h
by mstade 9y ago
I have a similar take on this, but expand it a bit by arguing that any line of code added – no matter how innocuous – is a liability. It's a line of code that has to be maintained, with all of the responsibilities that come with that. It may be a line that's responsible for adding more value than it costs, but it's still a liability. It won't add value forever, most likely, and when it stops it'll just be debt. It may be cheap debt, but debt nonetheless.
Deleted code on the other hand, is never a liability. The act of deleting it may be, but due diligence should ensure it is not.
- chrisbennet 9y agoYes! Every addition carries some risk. The real world example I give to clients/managers of the risk of adding a feature is this: Once I was using an industrial camera that had a mode that allowed it to mirror or “flip” the image output. Unfortunately, after running for a few hours, sometimes it would decide to flip the image on its own. Had that “flip” feature not existed, the bug could never have occurred. The point isn’t that you shouldn’t add useful features, but that even easy to add features aren’t as “free” as they might seem and the risk of adding them should be recognized and weighed against their utility.