Modernizing existing software - A viable approach !

We have all heard the phrase coined around mid 2000’s that 'Software is eating the world’. But the real question remains how do we live up and maintain the existing code base with the numerous permutations [environmental, political, regulations] impacting the delivery capability of the software base on which numerous organizations have invested massively.

The real catalyst in this whole conundrum is that we have to adhere to a regular change standard across existing platforms in order to meet the desired state required. The inception point is determining the current state of the existing software which is anyway delivering the goods as per the initial requirements. However, what we need to also adopt as part of system lifecycle culture is to be ready to constantly evolve the software in order to tailor make it towards the future or intended state.

Technical debt or code debt is a real dilemma faced by a lot of organizations today and changing to adapt with business needs is really costing a fortune [See my article published on Technical Debt here]. I am of the opinion that simply saying that technology is outdated and simply requires change is very subjective. We should have a clear defined plan with regards to future state in line with modular based artifacts. This shall definitely help rolling out minor but critical viable products which meet the market demands.?

In an nutshell, this is where the famous concept of agile methodology which i call as early visualization approach helps in determining the required state. Today, fortunately with the new containerization methods available on both private and hybrid clouds can be tapped on to achieve this. Rather than going blindly for a complete system swap; i reckon having good look at the existing code base we have, understand the business rules, data dictionary, coding framework in order to mitigate the potential risks we have and then apply the necessary changes.

My point in this blog is to simply put forward the necessity of adoption of CI/CD approach now which clearly means continuous integration and continuous deployment. One major drawback might be the turn around time in achieving this; but trust me adoption of new system as part of an organization culture is a more lengthy process. It’s high time we empower ourselves on CI/CD framework now, else we run the risk of running out of steam year in year out.

Development, deployment and testing remain the 3 critical parameters to be part of the new pipeline and existing technology human resources need to seriously consider adoption of this new work culture - else they may be a source of appetite in nurturing the famous quote coined; as mentioned in the very beginning of this article.

Atishay - 29 May 2022