Summary
Scaling an organization or even just a product, inevitably means dealing with your legacy. Through both they and their colleagues' extensive experience with legacy modernization work, Meaghan and Fotina found one consistent theme. View legacy modernization as purely an engineering effort and the outcome won’t be what you want. Legacy modernization needs to be designed. It needs to fit into an overall product strategy and examined through the same lenses of customer, business, and tech impact as anything else. Otherwise you’re just immediately building a new legacy, not something that can scale with you.
Key Insights
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Legacy modernization often fails due to a lack of product thinking and focus on value.
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The four main pitfalls in legacy modernization are hubris, distraction, timidity, and over-capitalization.
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Balanced discovery—both upfront and continuous—is essential to uncover the complexities of legacy systems.
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Visual knowledge mapping helps teams navigate complexity and maintain focus.
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An experienced product manager is key to steering modernization efforts effectively.
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Change management needs to be incorporated throughout the entire modernization process, not just at deployment.
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Investing 30% of analysis and design efforts in change management can enhance project success.
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Continuous user engagement is crucial for understanding needs and improving systems during modernization.
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Slicing the project into manageable releases allows for experimentation and learning.
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Avoid the temptation to replicate features without assessing current market needs.
Notable Quotes
"Once we dig into it, these can all be traced back to not bringing that product thinking approach to the table."
"We need a blend of both upfront and continuous discovery."
"Not doing enough discovery upfront means you'll only get a superficial understanding."
"Good maps stop you from getting lost."
"Change management starts in earnest from when you begin researching the current state with users."
"A strong product manager will have clarity and agreement on a meaningful and directional vision."
"It’s tricky to change mindsets when people have built up senses of ownership around legacy systems."
"You cannot just think of change as sending out announcements or providing in-app help tools."
"Visible maps break down complexity and allow for meaningful decisions."
"Legacy modernization is a beast that needs to be carefully planned and designed."
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