Comment by pclowes

I think “make it work, make it right, make it fast” is a solid approach.

It appears the startup in question just never even did step one. A financial system that is imprecise does not work.

Additionally that mantra is typically applied at the story/issue level in my experience as in:

1. Get the tests passing 2. Get the code clean 3. Identify scaling bottlenecks and remedy if necessary.