[KyeRussell]

Do you really think that OP doesn’t understand tech debt?

In my experience, both of others, and certainly of my own proclivities, if an IC is left to their own devices, the work they do will deviate further and further from business goals. Yes, that includes long term business goals like “not needing to do a big bang rewrite because everything goes to shit”.

These threads tend to give the impression that maintenance is a completely unique need that you need to be a Big Brain Developer to understand. Truth be told this is the case in loads of other fields. “Long term thinking”, “short term thinking”, and prioritising appropriately, are well and truly within the remit for people and these positions, and improper execution of the above is one id the things that separates good and bad managers/executives.

Barring a good pairing of a development team that always has the wider business context in mind, and a good management / executive team that understands the nuances of development, this back and forth over maintenance and housekeeping is always going to happen to an extent. And to be honest you don’t want a development team that has the wider business context in mind to the extent of whoever is “above” them. Past a point, it’s a distraction.