the impact of clutter doesn't necessarily compound over time the same way debt does. It can, perhaps, but I don't think it's as consistent an analogy. A lot d

the impact of clutter doesn't necessarily compound over time the same way debt does. It can, perhaps, but I don't think it's as consistent an analogy. A lot depends on how often the 'thing' is used (thing being the code/system/space/etc). I have some systems that are, indeed, cluttered, and it's difficult to return to them when, but I rarely do (1-2x per year for updating a couple files). It's cluttered, and would take time to find what I need, but it's not really under 'active' development where the cluttered code may continually get built on (adding to the clutter, at the very least). You'd regularly clean a building you live or work in. You probably won't do the same to a building you have to enter once a year for 10 minutes just to go in to change a light bulb. Even if it's dirty or cluttered, the ROI probably isn't there.