Yey, your CMS has an update!

(But no one cares… except you.)

Exciting? Maybe for you.
Your client? Not so much.

They probably won’t notice.
They definitely won’t ask for it.
And they almost certainly won’t want to pay for it.

After all, the site still works, right?

But you as a developer know what happens if you don’t keep up

• Bugs creep in

• Plugins break

• Security holes widen

• And soon you’re knee-deep in technical debt

Still not sexy. Still not billable.

Maybe your clients are more forward-thinking than mine, but personally I’ve found this kind of work really hard to get paid for.

Meanwhile, the update notifications pile up

Each one adding a bit more guilt to your day. And guess who’s to blame if things go sideways? Yep — you.

You’re stuck maintaining tech that no one wants to maintain, for a fee no one wants to pay, on a schedule no one respects.

But here’s the kicker

Ignoring updates might save money now, but it often leads to bigger, more expensive problems later.

By the time things break — or the site gets hacked, or a plugin stops working, you’re not just updating anymore.
You’re rebuilding. Troubleshooting. Firefighting.
And that costs a lot more.
Both in time, money, and client trust.

“This maintenance task you didn’t want to pay for six months ago?
Now it’s an emergency fix that’s five times the cost.”
– Not a fun conversation.

(written with help from ChatGPT)