Hans Hosea Schäfer

Get ready for new features - the legacy challenge

What if the key to modernizing your legacy system is to find and dismantle its 'black holes' of technical debt?

Get ready for new features - the legacy challenge
#1about 2 minutes

Understanding the spider web of legacy system dependencies

Legacy systems create a web of operational and technical dependencies that constrain new feature development and increase costs.

#2about 7 minutes

How a central core module becomes a black hole

A project's central "core" module often accumulates excessive responsibilities and dependencies over time, creating a maintenance bottleneck.

#3about 3 minutes

Identifying and understanding system black holes

Black holes are modules with oversized APIs, high technical debt, and excessive responsibilities that attract more dependencies over time.

#4about 8 minutes

Case study on refactoring a legacy configuration system

A multi-year refactoring effort replaced legacy configuration services with Spring Cloud Config by using adapters and systematically removing old dependencies.

#5about 9 minutes

Decoupling from external systems with a mocked environment

Creating a "boxed" local development environment by mocking all external dependencies allows for independent and faster feature development.

#6about 2 minutes

The benefits of a fully mocked development environment

A mocked environment accelerates development, improves testing consistency, and empowers frontend teams to drive API design with backend counterparts.

#7about 8 minutes

A pragmatic approach to documentation and modernization

Focus on high-quality, minimal documentation and strategically choose which technologies to modernize based on value versus effort.

#8about 9 minutes

Key principles for managing long-term technical debt

Treat technical debt like a mortgage by accepting it to deliver value, but consistently pay it down by focusing on major issues.

#9about 9 minutes

The business impact of neglecting legacy system maintenance

Neglecting IT maintenance leads to poor user experiences and dangerously slow adaptation, posing a significant threat to the business model.

#10about 2 minutes

Preparing legacy systems for upcoming technology shifts

To prepare for new technologies, legacy systems must be modernized to support near-real-time data processing and user expectations.

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