Unlike getting used to a smelly room, there are some large costs to becoming too habituated on a software project. First is “death by a thousand needles”. A number of small annoyances compound and can greatly decrease developer productivity. It may seem small at first but over time the team’s ability to deliver new customer value can grind to a halt.

Secondly, habitually poor engineering systems can drive engineers off of teams. I have seen several engineers become frustrated with the time it takes to build, deploy, test (the developer inner loop) and decide to leave the group. Making sure the development experience is enjoyable and smooth is a table-stakes item for retaining talent.

Okay, "grind to a halt" is too strong, but what if we say "half as fast as you could be moving". That's enough to matter, isn't it? And I think, honestly, that's possible.

It is too easy to get used to the status quo, even when you know it's inefficent or wrong. Habituation is a coping mechanism, and often a useful one! The problem is identifying when you're using it and remembering that you need to fix it soon too.

Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good enough, but don't let the good enough get in the way of doing your best either.