[saulpw]

"Rapidly over a year or two"

That time window is when the code is not legacy yet. When the developers who wrote the code are still working on the code, the code is loaded into their collective brain cache, and the "business needs" haven't shifted so much that their code architecture and model are burdensome.

It's pithy to say "all code is legacy" but it's not true. Or, as from the other reply, if you take the definition to that extreme, it makes the term meaningless and you might as well not even bother talking, because your words are legacy the instant you say them.