While you’re completely correct, I’ve also observed an anti-pattern where people become afraid to touch load-bearing code if it “works”, compounding over time i

While you’re completely correct, I’ve also observed an anti-pattern where people become afraid to touch load-bearing code if it “works”, compounding over time into a brittle codebase and piles of hacks to work around shortcomings in infrastructure. Assuming it meets the risk/cost/reward trade-offs, I’ve found it’s preferable to rip the bandaid off and refactor ASAP, rather than allowing “fear-driven development” to take root. (Obviously, a robust test suite greatly lessens the risks.)