The Law of Maintainability

Published on January 6, 2016 (↻ June 6, 2021), filed under Web Development (RSS feed for all categories).

One cannot not maintain.

This is an important axiom, critical even when we recognize how little understanding and prioritization this topic enjoys in our industry, that is, web and software development.

One cannot not maintain because all code must be updated or deleted one day, and that is why everything we do has more than the initial setup and launch cost, and why that little that we have about web maintainability best practices is not enough.

This is a simple reminder, now, that we must stop making and permitting excuses for the disregard and ignorance maintainability gets in our field. One cannot not maintain.

That should be enough with laws for the moment. I refrained from naming this law “Meiert’s Law of Maintainability.” Call it “Franz Hubert’s Law of Maintainability” if you must, as long as we as web professionals become a bit more mindful about maintenance.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a frontend engineering leader and tech author/publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead for companies like Google and as an engineering manager for companies like Miro, I’m close to W3C and WHATWG, and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development (and engineering management), but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my views and experiences.

If you’d like to do me a favor, interpret charitably (I speak three languages, and they do collide), yet be critical and give feedback for me to fix issues, learn, and improve. Thank you!