“Why can’t we just reuse …”

"Why can't we just reuse that?" It's a fair question, and we rarely answer it properly. The trouble is that "reuse" is one word doing the work of six very different things: copy the pattern, fork the repo, share a library, plug into a running service, and so on. Each carries a different cost, a different owner, and a different bill landing eighteen months later. Nodding along without agreeing which one you mean is how a sensible instinct quietly turns into an unfunded liability. So before you say yes, ask the three questions that actually matter: who owns it, who pays for it, and who's on the hook when it breaks at 2am. If a proposal can't answer all three, it isn't a reuse strategy. It's a hope.