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Engineering Insights

There's No Limit to How Bad Code Can Get

Simon Willison · Sep 06, 2026 · Engineering Insights

Starting from scratch often fails in managing technical debt.

“It's so rare for that to work.”

The discussion highlights the challenges of rewriting systems plagued by technical debt, emphasizing that the process often leads to maintaining two systems without solving the core issues. The recommendation is to improve the old system with automated testing and targeted refactoring rather than opting for a complete replacement.

migrations technical-debt

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