Building a Lasting Legacy (Software)

Some of my favorite X accounts are the traditional architecture ones. Not the ones that just show pretty old buildings - though those are cool - but ideally the ones that talk about traditional building materials and techniques.

Some of the topics

• What problems they solved (lean intentionality)
• How they were easy to maintain (self-service)
• Why pretty buildings are more environmentally and economically friendly (hint: because we don't tear them down for centuries)

Well-crafted software is like an iconic historical building

I can talk for days about different analogies and metaphors I have for "software craftsmanship". Comparing it to buildings is one.

Some thoughts to start, paired with some of the core tenets to our software craftsmanship philosophy:

• Start with a tent (or tarp) if you're homeless -> start with lean prototypes
• Then, "the wise man built his house upon the rock" -> foundations should be solid
• Pretty buildings last longer -> UX for users and developers is critical

We love working with legacy software - the stuff that's been around for 10-20 (or more) years, works (mostly), isn't pretty, and powers $millions in business every year.

When engaging with new customers like this, we start by emphasizing the value of points 2 and 3 above for maturing their systems from "it doesn't break" toward "it's a critical strategic asset that accelerates our business into the next stage".

The goal for software, after the prototype stage, should be to build something solid enough to one day reach "legacy" status.

Well-crafted software is like a factory

At the time of writing this, I just got back to our Beachwood office after walking the shop floor at a prospective customer in NE Ohio.

I love these visits. Factories are cool, this one is no exception. Our ideal customer, too... local, family-owned, high character, eternal perspective.

Some of the impressive things they highlighted:

• Full lot traceability
• Extensive vision for historical tracking and visibility
• Real-time metrics and dashboards of plant and production health
• Shadow boards for tools
• Automations throughout the production line
• And more...

These are themes that are also just as important in building software that can grow old enough to one day become "legacy".

• Telemetry: logs, traces, and metrics provide visibility into our software to help troubleshoot and optimize
• Automated tests: sorta like shadow boards for code... if it breaks, it's like a missing tool. Fix it now to avoid chaos.
• Automated deployments: repeatability, consistency, reliability, from software idea to software deliverable

And of course, "continuous improvement".

The themes that are important for crafting a well-oiled efficient factory are the same themes that are important for crafting a well-oiled software system.