[pablobaz]

In my experience with very large codebases, a common problem is devs trying to improve random things.

This is well intentioned. But in a large old codebase finding things to improve is trivial - there are thousands of them. Finding and judging which things to improve that will actually have a real positive impact is the real skill.

The terminal case of this is developers who in the midst of another task try improve one little bit but pulling on that thread leads to them attempting bigger and bigger fixes that are never completed.

Knowing what to fix and when to stop is invaluable.

[jimbokun]

Which can lead to trying to rewrite Netscape Navigator from scratch and killing the company:

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

[ninalanyon]

> common problem is devs trying to improve random things.

Been there, been guilty of that at the tail end of my working life. In my case, looking back, I think it was a sign of burnout and frustration at not being able to persuade people to make the larger changes that I felt were necessary.

[Kinrany]

Do you think boyscouting, "leave it better than you found it" is misguided as well?

[bogdan]

I always took it as "leave it better than you found it" across the files that I've been working on (with some freedom as long I'm on schedule). My focus is to address the ticket I'm working on. Larger improvements and refactorings get ticketed separately (and yes, we do allocate time for them). In other words, I don't think it's misguided.

[bricestacey]

I do not believe in "boyscouting". I think if you want to leave it better, make a ticket and do it later. Tacking it on to your already planned work is outside the scope of your original intent. This will impact your team's ability to understand and review your changes. Your codebase is unlikely to be optimized for your whimsy. Worse though is when a reviewer suggests boyscouting.

I've seen too many needless errors after someone happened to "fix a tiny little thing" and then fail to deliver their original task and further distract others trying to resolve the mistake. I believe clear intention and communication are paramount. If I want to make something better, I prefer to file a ticket and do it with intention.

[bitcraft]

Boyscouting works because you don’t need to get permission to fix tech debt when it is bundled with something else. 98% of those tickets you file to fix warts will never be addressed because the business demands that time is spent on features that make money.

[_Tev]

Isn't the point of OP of this thread that most of those wart-fixes are pointless?

I tend to agree, if you can't sell it as a ticket you probably shouldn't work on it. And "boyscout" PRs are pain to review.