Escape the Legacy Trap - how to quickly modernize legacy applications with a business value focus

76% of executives say legacy software is holding them back

Old software is a big problem in most organizations. For example, in one survey 76% of executives said legacy software is holding them back from introducing new features in their software. This means their business can’t change: if the software can’t change, the business can’t change.

IDC estimates there are 500 million legacy applications in use around the world. The vast majority are found on x86 servers, with most running on virtual machines (VMs).

My collegue Marc Zottner and I wrote up how our work, Tanzu Labs, helps organizations modernize their software and escape the legacy trap. Using a process called Swift, the process incrementally modernizes applications based on how they’re used, that is “business capablities.”

Presentations

Slides from June 6th, 2024 presentation at DATEV Craft Community.
Presentation on the Legacy Trap, May 11th, 2023 - from Marc and I.
A version of the presentation focusing on financial services like banks, insurance companies, etc.

Guides to Help You Escape the Legacy Trap

The book and other related stuff:

The Legacy trap ebook - we started this book with the premise that many executives didn’t know about or understand what to do about legacy software. The book gives them a plan for what to do and goes over the Swift process.
Developer Toil Audits - this is a great method you can use to find legacy process and code: you ask the developers what they dislike and what they’re struggling with. Check out this free overview and tool to get started.
Read about Swift from Shaun Anderson, who created it
Swift Practices - even more!
Work with VMware Tanzu Labs - you can hire some of my VMware collegues to help you modernize your apps using all these practices.