I'm not so sure about this. I support things and I've supported them over absurd growth periods for years. I've lost track of how many zeros are on the number of things per thing; it doesn't matter.
The process is: You're in charge of a thing, it grows, it breaks, you fix it, it grows, it breaks, you refactor it, it grows, it breaks, you fix it, it grows you replace it and shard it into N things, they grow, they break, etc. The metrics matter, but after a while it's just bigger and bigger but gotta work, so you just make it work.
Oh -- obviously I'm not an engineer -- I don't wear a striped hat and drive a train or sign blue prints.
The process is: You're in charge of a thing, it grows, it breaks, you fix it, it grows, it breaks, you refactor it, it grows, it breaks, you fix it, it grows you replace it and shard it into N things, they grow, they break, etc. The metrics matter, but after a while it's just bigger and bigger but gotta work, so you just make it work.
Oh -- obviously I'm not an engineer -- I don't wear a striped hat and drive a train or sign blue prints.