Modernizing through evolution not revolution

Due to unavoidable compromises, over time, projects inevitably lean more towards growth and depth than general modernization, to the point that they become difficult to maintain. So, what happens when the bugs add up and the monster emerges? Refactor? Rewrite from scratch? The speaker shall expand and explain what to look out for, from both a technical and business perspective.

Presented at CFSummit 2022, Las Vegas, US

Transcript

1. MODERNIZING THROUGH EVOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION GUUST NIEUWENHUIS
2. ABOUT ME Guust Nieuwenhuis Managing Partner @ We Are North Full Stack Web Wizard Masa CMS Born in The Netherlands Living in Belgium Soccer coach Mountainbiker
3. MODERNIZING THROUGH EVOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION GUUST NIEUWENHUIS
4. 10 YEARS Average software lifetime
5. Spaghetti code Outdated framework Unsupported libraries Deprecated integrations No tests Not documented Difficult to develop Hard to maintain
6. What’s next?
8. Flights booking engine Performance issues Decided to rewrite from the ground up Kept adding new functionality to the “old” engine Development of the “new” engine trying to catch up Financial disaster
9. REWRITE CODE FROM SCRATCH IS THE SINGLE WORST STRATEGIC MISTAKE THAT ANY SOFTWARE COMPANY CAN MAKE Joel Spolsky 
 Co-founder Trello and Stack Over fl ow
10. A feeling isn’t sufficient Rewrite delays the release of the project More bugs and less functionality Expensive No guaranteed success
11. So, what’s next?
13. 12+ years old web application New separate API for mobile app New report builder module Integrated new module in old application Sharing the database Feature flags
14. 12+ years old web application New separate API for mobile app New report builder module Integrated new module in old application Sharing the database Feature flags
15. 12+ years old web application New separate API for mobile app New report builder module Integrated new module in old application Sharing the database Feature flags
17. 25+ years old client-server app Need to move to “The Cloud” New module developed Domain Driven Design Microservices architecture Events between “old” and “new”
18. 25+ years old client-server app Need to move to “The Cloud” New module developed Domain Driven Design Microservices architecture Events between “old” and “new”
19. How?
20. 1. Case
21. 1. Case 2. Boundary
22. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy
23. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy Bubble Context
24. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy Bubble Context
25. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy Bubble Context Anticorruption layer (ACL)
26. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy Bubble Context ACL Synchronisation
27. 1. Case 2. Boundary 3. Strategy Event queue
28. SAME HABITS, SAME MISTAKES!
29. WANT TO READ MORE? Domain Driven Design Bounded Context Strangler Fig Pattern Anti Corruption Layer Eric Evans Martin Fowler Anti Patterns Event Driven Architecture Microservices Feature Flags
30. ONE MORE THING Steve Jobs Co-founder of Apple, Next and Pixar
32. 3 applications Overlapping functionality Consolidate applications Minimum viable product (MVP) Won’t copy all functionality Business case drives rewrite!
33. 3 applicaties Overlapping functionality Consolidate applications Minimum viable product (MVP) Won’t copy all functionality Business case drives rewrite!
34. MODERNIZING THROUGH EVOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION guust@wearenorth.eu https://www.linkedin.com/in/guustnieuwenhuis