This blog is written by our CTO, Pawel Kaminski. Pawel has spent the last two decades working in tech and product, spending half of it as a CTO. He's worked with companies of all sizes, from FTSE 500 organisations to co-founding several successful startups. 

We’re not going to pretend we know how complex your current system is, how hard it is to win the budget to improve it, how many times you couldn’t respond to user defects and requests, and how many times you promised your team that, they would finally be able to remove the ugly legacy they hate working on to new, exciting technology solution. 

Your context matters the most and we’re not pretending to know all the answers, but in this article, we can shed some light on what we’ve experienced and seen while helping others in similar situations.

I am sure you noticed that just over the last few weeks, the technology landscape has shifted from under our feet again:

At the same time, your users' expectations of your systems are not based anymore on your direct competitors, but purely on "Apple-esque" user experiences with a never-ending list of new capabilities, improvements expected, and a sprinkle of AI on top.

If that feels like you, your team and your system, please remember you are not alone. On average, 31% of an organisation’s technology is made up of outdated IT systems, applications or software and one survey found that developers spend 42% of their time repairing company legacy systems. 

There are multiple ways to think about how to start considering an initiative to do something about your legacy solution. In our experience, a few strategic suggestions are usually worth considering: 

Your context matters: 
Your current business, team structure, and future needs all impact what you can do. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here, and no one has all the answers. The process will be a discovery, full of learnings, uncovering new ways to proceed and improve, and occasionally, the lack of certainty in outcomes. Engaging with external partners experienced in complexity and uncertainty management could be very helpful here.

Your strategy matters: 
In our view, focusing your and your team's efforts on the most challenging problem you face that you can do sth about is crucial. Everything else will have to wait. We know there are probably 99 things you would love to change, but for now, pick just 1-3 high-priority items and learn to live with the rest of them. That's why finding the correct crux to start is so crucial. Multitasking, lack of focus and trying to do much too quickly are critical differentiators between success and failure in your improvement efforts. 

Your approach matters: 
Different parts of the legacy system should be treated differently from process, budget, technology, and people's point of view. Strategically map which parts of the system are at an early stage of their user lifetime with plenty of expected innovation and tremendous value to your customers. Apply agility, startup lean methodologies, product thinking and emerging practices to improve them. That's where a lot of value for your users is and where most of the future work will happen. Find partners who can work with your teams to establish goal-oriented product thinking, MVP experience and a superbly quick approach to learning, improving and iterating. Don't work to fixed scope; develop goals and allow everyone to find creative, cost-effective and valuable solutions to problems.

Find the parts of the legacy platform you understand exceptionally well, and you can explain the requirements clearly. Those could be outsourced and delivered by reliable partners. Focus here on the quality, maintainability, and dependability of the solution. Do not force innovation in those areas, and use good practices and your experience to drive change. 

Finally, find the parts of the legacy system at the "utility" stage, where best practices are established and understood universally. Treat them accordingly, with an "off the shelf" solution or an external expertise. Optimise for cost reduction in those areas.

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We understand that asking to consider all the above and deliver the change is not a task to be taken lightly. It's hard to implement those programs, but we saw changes in organisations', teams' and customers' perceptions worth every moment of blood, sweat and tears invested into it. When working with other businesses, we’ve seen the appreciation of the ability to iterate quickly and match the speed of early startups with their innovation; we witnessed customers appreciating support teams and finally saying "thank you". We saw internal teams proud of their work enjoying the new learnings and opportunities. We’ve seen new opportunities emerge when their team stops being an operational "cost-centre" and becomes a hub of change and innovation in your business.

This journey could be hugely improved by working with an external partner willing to understand your needs, operating from a focused, strategic view and with experience in delivering correct solutions to match the required approaches.

Find a partner who will challenge you every time you mention "that it's always been done like this", with a unique perspective from different types of business domains and stages of business, from early-stage ventures and scale-ups to organisations like yours. A partner who can work in tandem with your team feels like part of it and has a responsibility to help grow your skills and understanding of new ways of working. 

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If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you with all of the above, email Ro Welch at ro@founderandlightning.com.

 We’d love to hear more about you and your business.