I have a counter-take on the first law that I've seen two examples of within my (20 year) career: > A system that inevitably degrades (to a significant degree)

I have a counter-take on the first law that I've seen two examples of within my (20 year) career: > A system that inevitably degrades (to a significant degree) over time was badly architected. Most systems aren't badly architected but most systems that *succeed* are. Good architecture requires time (usually an unprofitable amount) & most successful systems prioritise velocity. In summary: the demands of profit necessitate bad system design. Of the two examples I've seen in my career: one was by a larger-than-needed/accidentally over-resourced team in a very large corp, who were operating on an undervalued background product with no real OKRs. The second was a government-funded contract (these often skew badly in the opposite direction due to corrupt tender processes but barring that there's often breathing room for quality if there's a will).