Information technology managers and professionals are constantly being called upon to "modernize" their systems and processes, yet, often don't receive the support they need from everyone else. Remember, IT can never do it all alone. Modernization is more than simply moving applications to the cloud; it requires cultural change as well. And, alas, that's the hardest part.
It's time to "reframe your perception of 'legacy modernization' and stop considering it in terms of 'technology' or 'replacement' rather, reimagine your future business," urge Angela Bishop, Ashok Subramanian, and Dilraj Aujla, all with ThoughtWorks[1]. In a recent series of posts (parts 1, 2, and 3), they explain what it takes to overcome legacy mindsets. Here are six of their suggestions:
Fight complexity. "Complex systems often become slower and slower to change. Because of this, we see that there slowly emerges a 'them-and-us' attitude in the organization, where business and IT divide starts becoming a chasm that feels impossible to bridge. Usually due to the frustration of the business thinking something is simple when actually it's not," Bishop and her co-authors observe. Accidental complexity -- which builds up technical debt -- creates unsustainable systems. "It is sometimes possible to hide bad code behind good UX for a short duration, but the shortcomings soon surface and soon you stop delivering what customers' need." They urge enterprises to "focus on building a continually improving engineering culture, and support and invest to improve understanding of how the quality of code improves the ability to build newer, more delightful products."
Move from a project-to-project mentality to a continuous flow of improvements. Software relentlessly requires patching, upgrading, and building. But technology leaders and professionals these days need to look far beyond these day-to-day tasks. "Add