@clacke This is one of the hardest things to explain to stakeholders without a #softwareengineering backround..
The 5 line, bad performace code was in a sense free to the organization.
The 400 line, well performing code has a hidden cost that is hard to pin point.
If, for example the only person that understands it is the engineer that wrote it, you can develop a dependency on them with a potential cost that will only become apparent when you need to shuffle teams or change to a new tech.