Code Quality Has Never Mattered

March 28, 2026

I feel a tension right now, both in my own mind and among the developers I talk with about the role of code quality in this new AI-driven development world. Some people maintain that code quality still matters, even if an AI agent is generating the code, while others argue that we should focus only on outcomes now.

The truth is that code quality has never mattered. Good software has always been defined by the outcomes and impact that software has, not by its adherence to some arbitrary set of code standards and patterns.

Our coding standards, best practices, and patterns have come from observing the common attributes of software with successful outcomes. Some of these outcomes are not immediately obvious from just using the software. Things like scalability and maintainability can’t be easily measured, which is why we’ve relied on code quality standards to support positive outcomes.

The attributes or qualities of a codebase that lead to secure, scalable, and maintainable software may have changed, but those outcomes remain as important as ever.