The Expensive Lie - We'll Refactor Later

“We’ll refactor later” isn’t a plan. It’s a bet that future you will have more time, budget, and political capital than present you.

You won’t.

Every deferred refactor compounds, not like interest, but like structural damage. The system doesn’t just get harder to change; It gets harder to understand, staff, and defend.

The truth: “later” means never, or it means emergency. Neither is cheap.

Better approach: build refactoring into velocity. Not as a separate initiative. As the tax you pay to keep the system honest.

If you can’t afford to refactor it now, you’re already underwater. The system is lying to you about its true operating cost.

The expensive part isn’t the refactor. It’s pretending you have a choice.

Architecture is about knowing which debts you can carry and which ones carry you.