In what context? To the artisan/craftsman writing code for their own pleasure? Yes! To FAANG scale companies in their primary user interactions? Absolutely! (

In what context? To the artisan/craftsman writing code for their own pleasure? Yes! To FAANG scale companies in their primary user interactions? Absolutely! (The big guys measure substantial revenue impact from almost-imperceptible latency differences, for example.) Always, in every context, over every other thing you could be doing, without prioritization? Of course not. I think the “always fix paper cuts when you hit them” mindset could be great in some places. You would not last long as a startup if that was your philosophy. Papercuts are worthy of special consideration though, because if you ignore them, they can in aggregate build up to a substantial drag. Just make sure you talk to your users, measure your funnel, and watch them use your product. If they are delighted, you probably don’t have too many papercuts.