In some sense I agree with you but I'd actually kind of invert the dynamic you're describing... I don't think writ large most people who have never professional

In some sense I agree with you but I'd actually kind of invert the dynamic you're describing... I don't think writ large most people who have never professionally "done software" will ever be able to really "get it" about system maintainability and health. One aspect is that software engineers should probably get better at explaining this and backing it up with results and data, yes... but even moreso I think the problem is that software engineers haven't been empowered to influence, taught about, and held accountable for business strategy + outcomes nearly enough and business doesn't spend enough time trying to get engineers to buy in / understand / partner around their strategy. I think it's a massive opportunity for the discipline of software engineering as a whole for engineers to start stepping up a bit more to position ourselves less as the misunderstood computer monks and more as the experts in making smart tradeoffs around what's good for the business, product, users, software itself, etc etc. In many companies, the most influential engineers + engineering leaders operate like this as it is.