How Does Hidden Complexity Quietly Pile Up as You Keep Shipping More Features?
1. Introduction: The System Didn’t Get Worse Overnight Every release feels reasonable on its own. One more feature, one more exception, one more workaround to meet a deadline. Nothing breaks immediately. Metrics stay acceptable. Users don’t complain—yet. Then one day, a small change triggers a disproportionate failure. Something unrelated slows down. A rollback doesn’t fully…