[fuzzyengineer]

This is a tough balance. I agree that code quality has much less importance when it comes to MVP and startups. The key point differentiator for a good engineer/lead is to be acutely aware of all the compromises and techdebt that being piled upon the product. Understand the effects of each and add them to the backlog so that as soon as an issue crops up from them these tasks from backlog are prioritized. Another important aspect is to continually architect a solution that involves components that can be broken off once we want to improve them or no longer use them.