Last month I was debugging a feature that should have taken two hours. It took two days. The code was a mess — sprawling functions, nested conditionals, and comments that hadn’t been updated since 2019.
I’d had enough. I started deleting.
What I Actually Deleted
The original module was around 2,400 lines. After my “refactoring session,” it was down to about 400. The feature worked exactly the same. Tests passed. No bugs reported by users.
Here’s what I removed:
- Dead code paths — features that were disabled years ago but nobody removed
- Duplicate utility functions — we had three different “format date” helpers
- Over-engineered abstractions — factories for factories, wrappers for wrappers
- Commented-out code — just… sitting there. Waiting.
Why This Scared Me
Delete code? That feels wrong. We’re taught to be careful, to preserve everything “just in case.” Every deleted line felt like jumping from a plane without checking the parachute.
But here’s the thing: code that isn’t executed is a liability. It confuses future developers. It slows down CI builds. It creates false confidence.
What I Learned
- Less code = fewer bugs. It’s that simple. Every line you don’t write is a line you don’t have to maintain, debug, or worry about.
- Refactoring isn’t always adding patterns. Sometimes it’s removing them.
- Your code isn’t that special. Most of what we write is plumbing. Keep it boring. Keep it short.
When to Delete
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I’m not saying delete everything. But if you see code that:
- Hasn’t been touched in 6+ months
- Handles “future scenarios” that never happened
- Exists only because “we might need it later”
Delete it. Commit it. Move on.
The Aftermath
After deleting those 2,000 lines, our test suite runs 40% faster. New developers onboard faster. And I sleep better at night knowing there’s less code to break.
Next time you’re stuck on a bug, ask yourself: maybe the problem isn’t the bug. Maybe it’s the code around it.