How to Build Maintainable Software: Lessons from Real Codebases

Introduction Every software team eventually hits a wall. The codebase that shipped fast becomes the thing that slows everything down. This is not inevitable. It happens when speed is prioritized without judgment. The Real Cost of Moving Fast Without Design Speed without design produces velocity that compounds debt. When you skip the data model conversation and just add a column, you save 20 minutes today. Six months later that table has 100 columns and nobody knows which ones matter. Common patt