The term was introduced by Martin Fowler.
Build with an intention to rebuild when the time comes. It’s like throw-away prototypes, only in production. When your business grows, you may have to throw away some or all of your previous code base (as eBay did, twice). This does not mean that the previous solutions were bad: not at all, they were adequate for the previous step.
Dmitry Cheryasov
Note to myself: Always consider current context. Past decisions may not be relevant today.