I think we can look into the notion from complexity theory of attractor states. If you want to make a change, you need to shift your system enough that it moves

I think we can look into the notion from complexity theory of attractor states. If you want to make a change, you need to shift your system enough that it moves into another state. In more normal words - the codebase will fight your changes. And that means that small incremental changes may not be enough, and you will need at least a few big leaps.