reading-old-code-kindly.md
This essay is sample content. Replace it with your own writing before production deployment.
The fastest way to misunderstand an old system is to assume its current shape was the goal.
Ask what it protected
A duplicated branch may have isolated a risky customer migration. A hand-written parser may predate the library you would reach for now. Comments, issue history, and deploy dates often reveal more than the code alone.
Improve the map before the territory
Add the missing test, name the invariant, and write down the dependency that makes the change dangerous. The cleanup becomes smaller once the system can explain itself.
Kindness here is not sentiment. It is a method for finding the real constraint before removing the thing that was holding it up.
