[austin-cheney]

> Unfortunately, maintaining code is also not considered valuable work. We're valued for pushing out new features, and keeping existing features up to date with changing business logic is considered short work.

Then don’t maintain it and just let it fail. Maintenance requires time and effort which costs money that someone has to pay for. If the customer/client/employer doesn’t want to pay for it then just don’t do it. Don’t be soft about this. Someone pays for this deliberately or it does not happen. If they feel emotionally conflicted they can go fuck themselves until business failure and lawsuits become the new norm.

Now, it is your responsibility, as the developer, to achieve competency. If the cost of maintenance exceeds a given percentage of total labor then one of two things must happen.

First, is resolution. Solve for the problem by proposing refactoring as a new feature. If they don’t want to pay for this then continue to let Rome burn.

Second, is ownership. Someone needs to take ownership of these expenses. I mean financial ownership on paper. That person(s) will be the one best positioned to address the concerns of maintenance, because maintenance costs money. Lowering the cost of maintenance requires research and measuring things. If nobody drives that deliberately it will not happen. If you as the developer cannot deliver the labor to achieve this then you should be replaced by someone who can.

That is all you need to know.