First, what is refactoring?

Refactoring is the ongoing process of improving the internal structure of code without changing its external behavior.
It’s not a one-time event. It’s a mindset:

As Many always says in Xipe

"Let’s leave the code a little better than we found it."

1. It’s about how a team thinks long-term

In a team with a refactoring culture:

• Devs don’t just add code — they actively improve what’s there.
• Cleanliness is not optional — it’s a shared responsibility.
• Tech debt isn’t ignored; it’s tracked, discussed, and reduced continuously.

That’s not a coding practice. That’s a cultural norm.



2. It becomes part of the daily workflow

In refactoring cultures:

• Code reviews highlight messy abstractions or duplication, not just broken tests.
• Devs refactor as they go — not "later someday maybe."
• It’s OK to slow down a bit to clean things up.

The culture says: quality now prevents chaos later.

3. It reflects pride, professionalism, and care

You can tell a lot about a team by how much they respect their codebase.

Refactoring culture says: “We’re not here to ship garbage fast. We’re here to ship value, and that means caring about maintainability.”

If you don’t refactor often your code will become a Dragon charging interest to your tech debt, and your team will stop caring, stop trying, and “good enough” becomes the standard.