I think it's kinda hilarious that the article talks about a psychological effect that hurts software teams, and HN gets into a full-on debate about software testing strategies ;)
I've seen this stuff before. Developers making obviously-bad decisions is usually a symptom of a dysfunctional work culture and a code base that's both vital and fragile. It's not fun to work in such places, but it is possible to fix them.
The main issue is for management to accept that velocity will be significantly reduced and that many issues will pop up along the way and require a substantial QA effort to keep the quality from dipping too low.
It's still the best way forward as a complete rewrite is rarely a good idea.
yeah, I had to explain to a CEO that we weren't going to be shipping any new features for a few months while we upgraded core systems and eliminated tech debt. It was a tough conversation. But about 6 months later we were able to start developing new features again, and everything was much quicker and smoother. The lead dev had regained his composure, too, and wasn't being actively obstructive to everyone who tried to do anything to "his" code base.
I've seen this stuff before. Developers making obviously-bad decisions is usually a symptom of a dysfunctional work culture and a code base that's both vital and fragile. It's not fun to work in such places, but it is possible to fix them.