The Road To Legacy is Paved With Good Intentions

Legacy code. We’ve all dealt with it, we’ve all screamed at it. And we’ve all written it. A project becomes legacy when developers no longer have the context of old decisions. The transition to legacy status happens step by step, decision by decision. This talk will examine patterns that lead to legacy code, such as “personnel turnover”, “shifting priorities”, and “developer fads”. We’ll show how the pattern turns code into legacy and, more importantly, how it can be avoided or mitigated. At the end of the talk, you’ll be able to keep your project from sliding quickly into the legacy swamp.

Transcript

1. I'm not sure why this slide is blank It was blank when I got here and I'm afraid to change it Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
2. I'm going to start with a definition Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
3. Definitions shape discussion Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
4. Legacy code is code without tests — Michael Feathers Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
5. http://www.techdoneright.io/11 Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
6. Legacy code is code where the context of its creation has been lost — Me! Me! Me! Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
7. Is the solution More tests? More context? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
8. How does code become "legacy"? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
9. Can we stop it? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
10. Why don't we do things that would mitigate it? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
11. The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions → Noel Rappin (@noelrap) → http://www.tablexi.com → http://techdoneright.io → http://www.noelrappin.com Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
12. Michael Feathers knows that legacy code is about context Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
13. I'm not talking about technical debt Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
14. Technical Debt is things that you know are wrong when you do them Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
15. Legacy Tech Debt Bad At the time Good, or at least OK Bad, but we know why Bad Now Forgotten, but not gone Bill is due Bad Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
16. What is the problem with legacy code? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
17. Change is expensive and risky Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
18. hidden dependencies Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
19. "Dependency" ➡ code problem "Hidden" ➡ context problem Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
20. I have a theory Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
21. The nature of complexity Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
23. 3 to 15 5x the people 35x communications path Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
24. The amoeba in the jar Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
25. Double every minute. Fill the jar in an hour Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
26. When is the jar half full? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
27. 50% of the jar = 59 minutes Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
28. 1 percent of the jar = 53 minutes (more or less) Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
29. How do you feel saying you need a new jar at the 53 minute mark? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
30. Exponential complexity creeps up on you Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
31. And by the time you realize it it's too late Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
32. Siloing Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
33. "Noel did the last money story, let him do the next one" Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
34. "Oh, Noel has all the context on money" Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
35. "Noel has left the project, what now?" Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
36. On some level, we know the solution Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
37. But you feel silly talking about what's coming with an empty jar Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
38. It feels like too much ceremony on small projects Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
39. Failure or Overwhelmed? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
40. Let's talk about process Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
41. Process: Any activity on a software project that is communicating information about the project Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
42. Standup Code Review Story Tracker Slack chat Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
43. You always have process Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
44. Explicit process can be evaluated and improved Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
45. Let's think about process not just across a single moment, but over time Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
46. Can we use our process to better capture context? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
47. I know, we'll have a wiki! Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
48. Make it easier to do the right thing than not Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
49. Turnover Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
50. new member's first PR is updating the readme Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
51. Document questions Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
52. Departing members do an exit interview Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
53. Siloing Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
54. Pair programming Code review Code presentations Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
55. If an interesting question comes up in review, make it a comment Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
56. Similar issues when development in bursts Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
57. Don't have Dead Code Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
58. Priority Shifts Developer Fads Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
59. Don't Half-ass testing Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
60. Upgrade Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
61. $$ Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
62. Other things you could do Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
63. Code retrospectives Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
64. Video? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
65. Outside of code, legacy is good Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
66. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see. — Lin-Manuel Miranda Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
67. So the answer to dealing with legacy is... Plant more seeds? Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap
68. Noel Rappin (@noelrap) Table XI http://pragprog.com/book/nrwebpay http://pragprog.com/book/nrtest3 http://techdoneright.io/ Noel Rappin | The Road To Legacy Is Paved With Good Intentions | WCR 2017 | http://www.tablexi.com | @noelrap