Comment by sgarland

Constraints provide feedback. Real-world example from my job: we have no real financial constraints for dev teams. If their poor schema or query design results in SLO breaches, and they opt to upsize their DB instead of spending the effort to fix the root problem, that is accepted. They have no incentive to do otherwise, because there are no constraints.

I think your analogy is flawed; a more apt one would be training with deliberately reduced oxygen levels, which trains your body to perform with fewer resources. Once you lift that constraint, you’ll perform better.

You’re correct that you can write performant code without being required to do so, but in practice, that is a rare trait.