Earlier quoted context omitted.
In all honesty, this is one of the less abused quotes, and I have seen more benefit from it than harm. Like you, I've seen people produce a lot of slow code, but it's mostly been from people who would have a really hard time writing faster code that's less wrong. I hate slow software, but I'd pick it anytime over bogus software. Also, generally, it's easier to fix performance problems than incorrect behavior, especia…
> I have seen more benefit from it than harm. Same. I, too, am sick of bloated code. But I use the quote as a reminder to myself: "look, the fact that you could spend the rest of the workday making this function run in linear instead of quadratic time doesn't mean you should – you have so many other tasks to tackle that it's better that you leave the suboptimal-but-obviously-correct implementation of this one little…
I'm reacting to experiences where the software that emerges from a relatively large team effort can't really be made meaningfully faster because there are millions of tiny performance cuts - from the root to the fruit.