Comment by aleph_minus_one

> I think most engineers vastly overestimate how important high quality, maintainable, reliable code is to product success.

Rather: Many software developers overestimate how important high quality, maintainable, reliable code is to initial product success.

Once the product is highly successful, a high quality, maintainable, reliable code pays huge dividends - and I have a strong feeling that most business people vastly underestimate this dividend.