In October I first posted about a refactoring task I wanted to undertake, but at the time felt that this was too personal and would take too much extra time to justify doing it on my employer's dime during working hours. Since then a number of other tasks came and went and this refactoring need sat there crying out to be done. It didn't matter when it should be done, to keep the overall project moving forward it had to be done.
I needed to turn out multiple versions of an app using different types of data with slightly different properties and functions. In recent months I discovered the joy of inheritence and base classes, and this would be the ticket. All but a couple (well, three maybe four) methods could reside in a base class, and I could use scaled down classes for each app variant focusing on those 3 methods. But the rub (for me, not my employer) was the additional 2-3 days to rewrite the original app.
Back to the point of refactoring on company time. Whatever you call it, “refactoring,” “upgrading,” “versioning,” whatever, if its the smart thing to spend some extra time rewriting an app to scale it out in drastically reduced time, make it more stable, more manageable, and easier to enhance in the future, then its in the company's interest to take the time. Once I recognized the payoff of making the investment, it was a no-brainer.
Of course, I am an incredibly blessed nerd that I don't have to rationalize these things to a manager. I can only look at things objectively with my company's best interest at heart (and the expansion of my own skillset secondarily), make a decision and get to work.