Comment by rakeshmenon

When I say first priority is releasing the software - it means releasing software that works functionally. We cant optimize stuff which we are not sure will even break due to performance issues.

Analyze traffic/usage of parts of the application - mark areas which are used most - analyze performance - optimize if not up to mark.

If stress is always on elegant code - it'll always end up taking more time. In real-life scenario, no module is ever "bug-free". The cases change from day to day. When you're absolutely sure that the functionality is exactly what is required - then you should spend time optimizing it.