But it will need to commit a sizeable maintenance team to look after the obscure and difficult code. And it will continue to face hostility from users who have to fight with its products. Most managements are blinded by the idea that quality slows progress, and the Bach message is that quality is unattainable anyway. Yet when time spent on rework is considered, all studies have shown that concentrating on quality by improving the development process actually speeds progress. Sort them out early, and the benefits later on are significant.
Quality is there from the start.
This is something I'll be coming back to in the next few weeks. You can attain a high quality product without slowing your projects to a crawl. Nor must concern about quality unload a lot of bureaucracy onto your most precious people, the developers. If things are going to change, they're going to have to be changed by stealth.