Make the change easy, then make the easy change

Have you worked on some code, whether it's to add or extend functionality or fix a bug and thought, "This would be much easier if..."?

A quote by Kent Beck:

For each desired change, make the change easy (warning: this may be hard), then make the easy change

If you can refactor the code and make it easier to implement your required change, do so.

Any automated tests should be passing before and after, and I'd commit the refactored code to ensure any CI pipelines and checks are still passing.

Then, go ahead and make the required change - add the feature or fix the bug - which should now be easy.