This is IMHO a very naive take on software engineering and on keeping a complex system running. There is no way we're going to see a 70% cut and twitter surviv

This is IMHO a very naive take on software engineering and on keeping a complex system running. There is no way we're going to see a 70% cut and twitter survives. There is also no way an outside party cam figure out what the "unimportant" systems are in days or even weeks. Realistically if you want to cut you start by reviewing everything and pretend you just want to understand. You place key people in key positions and help them build an understanding. After 3-6 months of observing maybe you can do some cutting.