Developers face a constant challenge: writing clean, maintainable code while keeping up with rapid development demands. Striking the right balance between best practices and long-term sustainability is key to building applications that stand the test of time.

Are Traditional Best Practices Always the Right Choice?

Coding style is essential for the health and longevity of an application. Digitalized applications tend to grow more complex over time.
It’s like a ticking clock — if left unchecked, it can slow development to a crawl and make maintenance increasingly difficult.
So, are the coding best practices we rely on truly suitable for digital transformation applications?

In my opinion, they don’t serve the same purpose as they do for other types of web applications, such as presentation websites, e-commerce platforms, content management systems, and many other common online applications.

While some best practices were widely recommended in the past, they may no longer be ideal for long-term development and maintenance—especially in digital transformation projects.

I’d like to showcase a simple coding style using something as basic as an if statement.
As a web programmer, juggling Jira ticket descriptions and statuses, internal team meetings, workout routines, client meetings, and everything else life throws at you, it’s easy to overlook the extrapolating factor of continuous development and maintenance.

The Challenge of Conditional Logic in Code

Let’s say you need to validate a condition before assigning a value to a variable.
I’ll use PHP syntax for this example, simply because of my years of experience developing web applications with PHP. However, this paradigm applies to any programming language.

Starting with a Simple Condition

A basic example might look like this:

Expanding this logic into a more complex condition is just a matter of time.

The First Signs of Complexity

As the application grows, more conditions are added, and soon, you end up with something like this:

At this stage, the code is still relatively easy to follow, but as more conditions get added, things can spiral out of control.

The Problem with Unstructured Conditional Statements

If you put on your developer hat and imagine joining a project that has been worked on for years by different programmers, you might run into nested conditions, unclear logic, and inconsistent naming.

While variable names help hint at what the conditions are checking, the decision-making process behind the logic isn’t always obvious.

Hidden Dependencies in Conditional Logic

What if one of these conditions impacts a part of the application that is not immediately visible—like a button that appears only after a certain action is performed?

Here’s an example of a code snippet that adds complexity unnecessarily:

“I still remember the early days of my career — when my code became overly complex just because I was trying to reuse a single line. The result? A monstrous if statement that was almost impossible to decipher later.”

Refactoring: Writing Cleaner, More Maintainable Code

Instead of relying on nested conditions, a better approach is to simplify the logic and improve readability.

Applying Best Practices: A More Readable Alternative

Here’s a cleaner version of the previous code that ensures better readability, maintainability, and fewer redundant checks:

Why This Approach is Better

With this version of the code, we achieve:

✅ Avoiding unnecessary checks → $userIsActive is only checked once.
✅ Using functions for role-specific messages → Makes the code more modular.
✅ Better readability & maintainability → Easier to debug and modify in the future.

By breaking the logic into smaller, well-defined functions, we make the code more adaptable for future changes.

Why Startups Are Prone to Overcomplicated Code

While the challenges of bloated code can affect any project, startups are especially vulnerable.

Now, imagine you’re not just working on an existing project but joining a fast-moving start-up. Start-ups often prioritize speed over structure, aiming to launch products quickly, adapt to market changes, and outpace competitors.

In a startup environment, speed is everything. Teams are pressured to ship new features quickly, often at the cost of writing clean, maintainable code.

With tight deadlines and limited resources, developers often cut corners — which leads to overcomplicated or bloated code. Several factors contribute to this:
* Frequent team changes – New developers bring different coding styles, leaving behind unfinished refactors.
* Varying experience levels – Startups often rely on junior devs or freelancers who may not prioritize maintainability.
* Pressure to deliver fast – Speed takes precedence over clean code, leading to quick fixes and technical debt.
* Lack of coding guidelines – Without clear standards, developers create inconsistent and hard-to-maintain logic.

Developers might take shortcuts, hardcode logic, or skip proper documentation in the name of delivering MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) fast. While this works in the short term, it creates technical debt that can slow development later on.

This combination results in a patchwork of different approaches — often leading to complex conditional statements, redundant logic, and unreadable code.

How This Relates to Our Example

Why This Matters for Start-ups

Start-ups that don’t prioritize clean code early on often face a major challenge down the road—technical debt. Over time, messy code slows down development, making even small changes risky and time-consuming. Refactoring later becomes costly, delaying product updates and frustrating developers.

The takeaway? Even in the fast-paced environment of a start-up, writing maintainable code is an investment, not a luxury. Adopting clear logic, modular functions, and meaningful comments helps teams navigate rapid changes without getting buried under an unmanageable codebase.

Final Thoughts: The Key to Maintainable Code

Startups and fast-moving teams need to balance speed with sustainability. Writing maintainable code doesn’t mean slowing down development, but rather being intentional about structure and readability.

By using clear logic, breaking complex conditions into functions, and writing meaningful comments, developers can avoid technical debt and ensure long-term success.

The best code is not the most clever one — it’s the one that the next developer (or your future self) can easily understand. 😊

No matter how fast-paced your environment is, investing in maintainable code today prevents costly rewrites tomorrow.