I agree and wanted to make a similar point. This is a false dilemma.<p>It seems to me that every feature has a debt component (cost of maintenance) and an asset component (value to customers and business). Evaluating those together, one can determine whether a feature is a net asset or net debt&#x2F;liability. In this frame, there _can_ be &quot;neutral&quot; features, where the feature debt and asset entries sum to zero.<p>If all features were simply debt, it would be hard to imagine how there could be any sustainable software companies.