Legacy technology has a branding problem. The word legacy implies something old, outdated, and burdensome. In product organisations, legacy code is treated as technical debt to be eliminated, legacy systems as obstacles to be replaced, and legacy architectures as embarrassments to be hidden from investors. But this framing misses something important: legacy systems are legacy precisely because they worked well enough for long enough to become deeply embedded in the business.
At PR_D_CT DAY 2023 in Ghent, Andreas Creten, CEO of madewithlove, challenged the audience to rethink their relationship with legacy. madewithlove, a Belgian consultancy specialising in software modernisation, has spent years helping companies navigate the complex process of evolving legacy systems without destroying the value they contain. Andreas's talk was a masterclass in pragmatism over ideology.
For a room full of product professionals working at companies with codebases older than their youngest team members, the message was both validating and liberating.
Original Presentation Slides
Download the slides from this talk as presented at the gathering.
