susomejias Zero Tech Debt
Reshape the change from the intended end state, not from the historical path that produced the current patch. The goal is the code that should exist now, not the smallest diff from what's there.
Steps
Name the end state. In one or two sentences, describe the product surface and architecture as if you were building it today.
Find real callers before preserving anything. Grep for actual usage of each mode, prop, wrapper, route alias, or fallback. If nothing references it, delete it — do not "improve" it.
Reshape around the final surface. Prefer one clear component or flow over mode flags. Split only when there is an obvious boundary: state, layout, controls, or domain commands.
Move shared rules to one place. Feature flags, permissions, route gating, URL state, and command naming must not be duplicated across pages or buried inside view components.
Verify the intended flow. Test the new behavior and the assumptions you deleted — anything that touched navigation, permissions, or persisted state.
Rules
- Optimize for the code that should exist, not the smallest diff from the old shape.
- Delete dead compatibility paths instead of polishing them.
- Do not invent a generic framework for a single feature.
- Keep the refactor scoped to what makes the final shape coherent — no opportunistic cleanup.
- Prefer names that describe product intent over implementation history.