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Simon Wardley Profile picture
@swardley
Apr 25, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
X : Any ideas about dealing with legacy?
Me : Do you mean legacy IT?
X : Yes.
Me : First, I prefer to call it toxic IT given it's not something you bring the kids to see, it accumulates and can damage the health of an organisation.
X : Any advice?
Me : Well ...
Me : To begin with, we need to understand what it is. Most legacy is custom built stuff that became a commodity long ago and most (not all) legacy has been created in the last 20 years ... some is older, way older ...
Me : ... the next thing we need to understand is the fear. Everyone knows where the legacy is, most people want to remove it but there is usually real fear because if we change something then other things will break ... we often don't know how it's connected in the org ...
Me : ... lastly, we're adding to the legacy today. Everything we custom build will add to the "legacy" pile over time unless we have a means of fixing this.
X : Is there a solution?
Me : Do you mean a magic piece of software? No. Instead there is a long slog but ...
Me : ... it's doable.
X : How?
Me : Do you use test driven development (TDD)?
X : No.
Me : From now on, every new project, every upgrade, every bug fix, every change throughout the organisation must start with TDD. No, excuses.
X : How will that fix it?
Me : Within a good few years, with hard work, you'll start to build enough of a test suite that you can look to change things with a bit more confidence. You might have to commission test building for some stuff because there will be gaps.
X : Few years??
Me : Give yourself 3 to 4 years depending upon the size of the estate. Remember most of this legacy has been built over 20 years and if you've not been using TDD then you've got a lot of basic ground to re-examine. Which is also why you don't add to the problem.
X : The business won't accept that?
Me : Does it want to be more efficient, more "innovative"?
X : Yes
Me : If it doesn't fix this problem, it'll find the opposite. I did say it was toxic. Past decisions borrowed from the future, you're just paying for it now ... the bill is due.
X : And once we have the testing?
Me : Then you can start to look to tidy up things. Maps will help (you should build those as well) and patterns like strangler. Small iterative steps but start by slowly building up those tests otherwise fear will always overwhelm you.
X : Should we outsource this?
Me : To a large management consultancy?
X : Yes.
Me : No ... well, not unless you want to be beholden to them forever. You need to take control of this part. The tests are your institutional knowledge. They are your orgs brain ...
Me : ... there are some tools / groups that can help you. Search on "explainable software" by @girba
X : Calling it toxic IT is rude.
Me : It has never complained before. When you're next with your server, give it a comforting hug and just say "that Simon is a bad man".

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More from @swardley

Simon Wardley Profile picture
Dec 1, 2024
X : What is the deep state?
Me : Depends. You have various conspiracy theory forms and then there's the general term used to describe networks of power operating outside traditional democratic processes. This includes the influence of corporate interests, financial bodies, think tanks, wealthy individuals, lobbysts firms and institutions on government policy. Why?
X : Is Trump going to war on the deep state?
Me : I suspect you'll find that Trump brings his own corporate interests, financial bodies, think tanks, wealthy individuals, lobbysts firms and institutions that will have influence on government policy outside of the normal democratic process.
X : What does that mean?
Me : It means the deep state doesn't usually go away, it just changes i.e. a different group have influence. Unless Trump is planning on a radical program of transparency. Now, that would be interesting. Never seen Trump as a transparency champion.
Read 18 tweets
Simon Wardley Profile picture
Nov 30, 2024
X : Did you research healthcare investment?
Me : Back in 2023. A group of clinicians mapped multiple perspective of healthcare - including AI, clinical decision making, healthcare value chain - then we used those to determine where to invest from a societal and market benefit. Image
Me : ... from the table, if your focus is on society then your priority for investment should be measurement of health outcomes (against Patient Reported Outcome Measures) and sharing of medical data. If you're after market growth then try personalised medicine and preventative healthcare.
X : How do you produce those tables?
Me : Pick a field ... like healthcare. Ideally get 40-60 people together with experience i.e. clinicians. Ask them to write down post-it notes of what matters ... Image
Read 11 tweets
Simon Wardley Profile picture
Nov 29, 2024
X : What is the most essential skill for AI in the future?
Me : Critical thinking in humans. Alas, we don't usually teach this at school because we're too focused on producing useful economic units.
X : Useful economic units?
Me : Turning humans into automatons for the workplace.
X : Do you have evidence for this.
Me : I took a group of educational consultants, academics and teachers in 2023 and mapped out education from multiple perspectives ... purpose, micro-credentials, asynchronous & synchronous learning, learning models, social learning ...
... we then used the maps to identify where to invest for both societal and market benefit. We then aggregated the results, into the table attached.

If your focus in on societal benefit, then invest in lifelong learning and critical thinking. If your focus is on making money then invest in educational AI and digital access.Image
Read 26 tweets
Simon Wardley Profile picture
Nov 7, 2024
It amazes me that the most important metrics (lines of code, story points, cycle time, devex satisfaction) in development are the two that are never discussed, let alone measured ... mean time to answer (mttA) and mean time to question (mttQ).
Whenever we start with building a system or managing a legacy environment, we need to ask questions and get answers. Those are skills which can be hindered or supported by the toolset around you ...
... in the very worst cases, engineers are forced into reading code to try and understand a system. Upto 50% of development time can be spent on reading code ... a process we never question or optimise. That is madness.
Read 13 tweets
Simon Wardley Profile picture
Sep 26, 2024
X : Thoughts on a return to office policy?
Me : It happens for two basic reasons:-
1) loss of status symbols (top floor office etc). Many execs need these to say "I'm the boss"
2) headcount reduction (i.e. people will leave) due to a weakness in the finances.

Why?
X : What about productivity and innovation?
Me : Those are "reasons" given but they're all bogus and don't stand up to scrutiny. However, there is a third.
X : Colloboration?
Me : Stranded assets - offices etc. No exec likes looking at an empty building they spent £300M on.
X : Basically - status symbols, weaknesses of finances and political capital?
Me : Sounds about right.
X : Did you see Amazon has a return to office policy -
Me : Oh. That's concerning.geekwire.com/2024/survey-by…
Read 11 tweets
Simon Wardley Profile picture
Sep 9, 2024
X : Our strategy doesn't align with our business.
Me : How do you mean?
X : We create these strategy documents but they never really get implemented as the day to day business takes over.
Me : That's common. Can I ask a question?
X : Sure
Me : ...
Me : Do you map?
X : I've heard of your technique but we don't use it.
Me : Ok, so your business operations is not based upon a map of the landscape?
X : No
Me : And your strategy is not based upon a map of the landscape?
X : No
Me : What made you think they would align?
X : They are supposed to align and we wrote our strategy on our understanding of the business.
Me : Your wrote your strategy based upon stories. There's no means to create a consensus of your landscape, to challenge what your are doing. There is no mechanism for alignment.
Read 10 tweets

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