> This is what happens when your bonus, promotion etc is tied to shiny new stuff.
Maybe some of that is happening, but it's also easier to build new features than to evolve existing ones. (I suspect this is also true for roads and bridges.) So even if bonuses/promotions were tied equally to old versus new, the path of least resistance skews people toward new.
In software at least, I think much of the problem boils down to developers being unable to read or understand the project codebase, partly due to devs not prioritizing code readability, but also because the tech industry has an endemic problem of devs rotating through jobs every 1-2 years.
it's also easier to build new features than to evolve existing ones.
Yes, that too
endemic problem of devs rotating through jobs every 1-2 years
I work as a contractor. I prefer long term contracts, even if they pay less. But the past few months, every job requirement I have gotten is for 6 months, some as bad as 2 months. What a person can achieve in 2 months, I do not know (unless it is extremely well defined job and the contractor gets help). Maybe this is because of the pandemic, I don't know. But employers and employees both deserve blame for this high churn.
Maybe some of that is happening, but it's also easier to build new features than to evolve existing ones. (I suspect this is also true for roads and bridges.) So even if bonuses/promotions were tied equally to old versus new, the path of least resistance skews people toward new.
In software at least, I think much of the problem boils down to developers being unable to read or understand the project codebase, partly due to devs not prioritizing code readability, but also because the tech industry has an endemic problem of devs rotating through jobs every 1-2 years.