Thinking about what I wrote, I suppose my criteria for a good codebase is one that has the lowest friction to change: a fast edit/run/test/debug loop, a meaning

Thinking about what I wrote, I suppose my criteria for a good codebase is one that has the lowest friction to change: a fast edit/run/test/debug loop, a meaningful sense of security (without dogma), and fast automated deployment/revert (via blue/green). Given those a bad codebase can become a good one again (by uncoordinated action of individuals) without everyone having to buy into a large investment.