I think this is more a matter of perspective, rather than original meaning.

I read the above as "avoid development that increases complexity needlessly" — and often, there is a desire to overcomplicate something that can be much simpler because the understanding is lacking.

"As much as they can" does not mean trying not to do any work, but trying to simplify the work where it achieves desired outcomes, and just about! This frequently means doing the improvement today.