This article has the implicit assumption that you're holding the team constant. What if I really broke out the checkbook and brought in Martin Fowler to lay out

This article has the implicit assumption that you're holding the team constant. What if I really broke out the checkbook and brought in Martin Fowler to lay out a plan for technical debt cleanup? Or acquired a key data provider that has a terrible API in order to have direct access? Certainly that's buying higher software quality yet that's not what is being discussed here (but I wish the author would discuss it!). What this is saying is having developers think and plan a little bit instead of treating every day like it's the home stretch of the Kentucky Derby and you're half a length behind plays off pretty quickly. I would agree with that! I also like the point about letting teams with high momentum move fast and make improvements, I often see such teams reigned in and I tend to think that's a mistake.