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Could you, please, elaborate more about that ugly spaghetti monolith? I have similar situation at work. Maintainability is hard to measure, so my every try to m

by lnsru 6y ago

Could you, please, elaborate more about that ugly spaghetti monolith? I have similar situation at work. Maintainability is hard to measure, so my every try to measure and improve stuff ends with words “not a business case”.

bdavisx 6y ago
If you're looking for help fixing the mess you are dealing with, find the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code - https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=working+with+legacy+code&qid=1600701564&s=books&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Fe.... You might also want to read Refactoring to Patterns, but the legacy book is more important to start with.
yxhuvud 6y ago
Then learn their language and phrase your suggestions in ways that expose the issues to them in terms they understand. This requires you to fully understand what is important, and what is not important, to the business. Oh, and you should get good at incremental refactorings, and at downscoping your improvements so that they become feasible and easy to sell. Or even not require any selling as they can be done as part of normal work. It is not the big rewrites that get done, it is the small improvements that take only a little time, so learn how to compound them. By the way, getting good at the above points will over time also change your own priorities.
- lnsru 6y ago
  But is it really my duty to play managers, so they are ok with refactoring and improvements? I imagined somehow, that management and developers have same goals and it’s natural thing having clean codebase and up to date electronics.
  - yxhuvud 6y ago
    Yes, it is your duty to make them understand. Especially if they don't have a background in development themselves. Also I would not frame it as playing them. That is the wrong mindset. You should be among for a high level of trust from their side and then playing them can backfire.

by lnsru 6y ago

bdavisx 6y ago

If you're looking for help fixing the mess you are dealing with, find the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code - https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=working+with+legacy+code&qid=1600701564&s=books&sr=1-1 https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Fe.... You might also want to read Refactoring to Patterns, but the legacy book is more important to start with.

yxhuvud 6y ago

Then learn their language and phrase your suggestions in ways that expose the issues to them in terms they understand. This requires you to fully understand what is important, and what is not important, to the business. Oh, and you should get good at incremental refactorings, and at downscoping your improvements so that they become feasible and easy to sell. Or even not require any selling as they can be done as part of normal work. It is not the big rewrites that get done, it is the small improvements that take only a little time, so learn how to compound them. By the way, getting good at the above points will over time also change your own priorities.

lnsru 6y ago
But is it really my duty to play managers, so they are ok with refactoring and improvements? I imagined somehow, that management and developers have same goals and it’s natural thing having clean codebase and up to date electronics.
- yxhuvud 6y ago
  Yes, it is your duty to make them understand. Especially if they don't have a background in development themselves. Also I would not frame it as playing them. That is the wrong mindset. You should be among for a high level of trust from their side and then playing them can backfire.