It is not possible to build high-quality software by constantly adding new features without taking care of quality / reducing technical debt. I will explain why with a simple example.

Assume, we are building something in the real world. We get requirements from client one by one without time to redesign the solution. Let’s get started.

Client: I don’t want to get wet in the rain
You build:

Client: I want to protect also my things from rain

Client: I want to move my rain protector

Client: I want to heat on cold days and cool on hot days, and even protect against thieves

Client: I want to travel my rain protector

Excellent, we build a solution. Is the client satisfied? Hard to say, but he got what he wanted, according to his requirements.

Is this solution optimal? I think not. Is this solution convenient to use? Not. Besides that, is fragile and dangerous. It is not a best solution. Why? Because we were constantly adding new features without redesigning the existing solution.

Many projects, even today I think, are built in that way. Developers get a bunch of requirements and build solution, which is quite good at the beginning. Later, developers get another bunch of requirements and another and another. At every iteration (bunch of requirements) developers add new things and try to connect with existing ones. At every iteration, it is harder and harder. Complexity is rising, productivity is lowering.

Business complains that implementation of new features/functions takes longer than expected. Testers complains that application is unstable and has many bugs. Developers complain because the complexity is high, and more and more knowledge is required to implement new features or bug fixing, work is hard and tedious.

The client is quite happy because he gets new versions with shiny interfaces, application is working slowly with problems, but at least is working. Underneath is a real mess. Developers no longer understand what is going on

Welcome in hell. Microservices are very popular now, so welcome in microservices hell.

When the pressure of the business to deliver new features is high, and we don’t focus on design and there’s no time to redesign / refactor, the project reaches hell very quickly. We can say or sing ‘Highway to Hell (AC/DC)‘ but unfortunately it is rather a mourning song.