Re:Perfection Is Not Over-Engineering
by Daishiman on Tuesday July 21, 2026 @11:36AM
(#48993721)
You're saying it in jest but this is closer to the right answer.
Features make you money. A large enough project has an infinite backlog. You will be unlikely to make much money from clearing out your backlog.
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As a guy who was a part of projects with an infinitely growing backlog (multiple times), I can tell you for certain that _not_ periodically addressing parts of your backlog absolutely will stop you from making more money; even lose you some due to customer churn.
I am as close to a fan of a clear backlog as it can be, but I would also say that an insufficiently deep backlog is probably a sign that you're spending too much on refactors and cleanups.
That would be true insofar as another premise is true: large backlog means we are drowned in business work and the internal cleanups that are very important constantly get kicked down the road. I started pushing back and the backlog at least stopped growing; even managed to remove 2-3 items this week, first time in months.