Big balls of mud are inevitable, right? I’ve written about where these sprawling, difficult-to-maintain codebases come from and how you might deal with them. It seems like there isn’t very much you can do about them.
But now that we have AI coding agents, maybe there is.
Look, we all start out with great intentions. We have a beautiful design, we implement it carefully and lovingly, and we swear that this time we aren’t going to make compromises and we will always “do the right thing” even if it takes longer.
And that actually works for a while. You build the product, and it starts selling. You build a little business around it, and pretty soon you have people working for you. You hire a salesperson or two, and you hire a support team. Your company is making money!
Like many businesses, it’s not a huge viral success, but it delivers a modest, steady income. You sell support contracts. Maybe you pick up some money on your customers’ credit card transactions. You have a bit of cash in the bank, and you don’t have trouble making payroll, but it’s not a slam dunk. Things are steady, but that next customer is always important.
