There is a certain something about basic hygiene: It is never really talked about, everyone is supposed to do it, but a lot of people still have bad breath and smell terrible.
Out and about in meatspace generally people will let you know directly or indirectly that you need to clean yourself up. They’ll either wrinkle their nose or tell you directly to go take a shower. And you should! Smelly people are gross!
Projects need daily hygiene too, but because they are amorphous and intangible nobody is ever going to tell you when the cleanliness levels have dropped below acceptable. Its hard to tell on lots of projects because there aren’t clear standards that work for every project. Or, “We don’t brush our project’s teeth, because <insert bullshit reason here>”.
Brush your project’s teeth! Do it every day!
Do your chores! Clean up after yourself! Take a shower!
Simple concepts like having a bug tracker, using version control, having a planning board, a schedule, a set time each day to answer emails, weekly code reviews, a deployment pre-check process, weekly discussion meetings, they are all necessary hygiene that makes and keeps a project clean and fresh.
Nobody wants a smelly project!
A project with good hygiene is a happy and successful project.