Understand why something exists before you change or remove it.
If you don’t think about the original reason for something’s creation, removing it may have unintended consequences due to second-order effects. It’s entirely possible that the original reason is no longer valid (or never was), but until you take the time to understand that initial motivation, you can’t objectively make a decision for change.
Sometimes it’s hard to know the historical context, and the only option is to remove something and monitor for changes before fully committing.
https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/
Relates to institutional knowledge, documentation, technical debt, and complexity.