The Codebase No One Understands
How invisible complexity kills growing companies
Every startup starts with a handful of developers who know every line of code. Then success hits. Suddenly it's 100 developers, multiple products, and that clean codebase? It's now a maze no one understands.
This story is as old as software. But here's the thing: complexity isn't what kills companies—invisibility is. i.e. not being able to navigate that complexity.
As companies grow, each new developer adds their spin. Managers come and go, pulling in different directions. "Just one more feature." "A quick integration." Each choice makes sense at the time. Together? They create a mess we call "technical debt."
Soon, simple questions become impossible: "How long will this take?" "What breaks if we change this?" Nobody knows.
The symptoms are obvious. Everything slows down. Features that took days now take weeks. Developers tiptoe through code like it's a minefield, scared to break what they don't understand.
Estimation becomes guesswork. Only the veterans who've been there forever can navigate the chaos. When they leave, that knowledge walks out the door. New hires struggle. Deadlines become jokes.
You'd think AI would fix this. Nope.
AI is making it worse. Copilot, ChatGPT—they're code factories. We're generating more code than ever, understanding less than ever.
But wait—is that really bad? Uncle Bob would say "write clean code from day one." Come on. That's how you kill a startup before it starts.
We need speed. Modern codebases have millions of lines from humans, AI, contractors, and ghosts of developers past. We can't slow down. We need everyone shipping fast while actually knowing what's going on. If using AI means more code, then it’s ok.. we just need to have visibility into what’s being built.
That's why deep visibility matters. Not perfect code. Not endless documentation. Just seeing what we have and knowing what it takes to build what's next.
The winners of the next decade won't have the cleanest code or the best AI. They'll be the ones who can ship fast AND see clearly.