Automated Code Modernization: Don't Pave the Cowpaths

After talking about some experience with legacy modernization (or migration), I received information from Blue Phoenix about their approach to modernization.

Before talking about modernization, it's important to think about the following issue from two points of view.

Modernization can amount to nothing more than Paving the Cowpaths.

From a …

more ...

How to Write Crummy Requirements

Here's an object lesson in bad requirements writing.

"Good" is defined as a nice simple and intuitive GUI interface. I would be able to just pick symbol from a pallette and put it somewhere and the software would automatically adjust the spacing.

Some problems.

  1. Noise words. Phrases like "'Good' is …
more ...


The need for ping

Years ago, when designing an interface to a vendor's web services, I did the following. This isn't a genius move, but it's worth emphasizing how important it is. And what's most important isn't technical.

  1. I built a simple spike solution to access their service.
  2. I morphed this into a "sanity …
more ...