Quick: what’s the formula to calculate the volume of a cube?
Bolting GenAI onto a sub-optimal approach is like putting a jet engine on a Conestoga wagon.
Five predictions about legacy modernization in the year 2035.
Quality and malleability of software matter to everyone, but in the face of immediate demands (triage modernization, shortcuts for political expediency), they’re often an afterthought. Until tech disruptions—like AI—come along.
When it comes to modernization success, the objective is as crucial as the approach. End-goals that focus on stopping the pain or ticking boxes can only get so far… if they get anywhere at all.
This issue explores how software’s original purpose became recalibrated to just another cog in the production line—and how a path forward might lie in socio-technical design.
Like early attempts at human flight, successful digital transformation requires understanding the forces at play. Master those forces, and the sky’s the limit.
Three-fourths of all legacy modernization projects fail. How can Mechanical Orchard feel confident in the face of a record like that?
Modernizing legacy systems should begin with comprehension: in this vast monolith of tens of millions of lines of code, what does what? The more critical the system, the more important comprehension is.
Ours is a safer approach, one that is designed to increase confidence and reduce risk through demonstrating meaningful progress at every step.
Many companies view “digital transformation” as a chance for a gut remodel of a house. But systems aren’t static: they’re moving, living systems that, btw, are working.
In last month's newsletter, we discussed the difficulty of getting started with modernization projects despite the empirically low confidence level for success.
Mechanical Orchard's low-risk legacy modernization approach is unorthodox but highly effective.
Following our successful Series A round, we’re proud to announce that we’ve appointed Edward Hieatt as Mechanical Orchard’s Chief Customer Officer.
After a COVID-induced kumbaya moment, not all is harmonious between employers and employees at big tech companies.
“There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.” Attributed to notables ranging from St. Francis of Assisi (whose elephant-related credentials are a bit suspect, tbh), to Desmond Tutu, the meaning is obvious: any task, no matter how challenging, can be tackled bit by bit.
You’ve seen the demo videos that start with a prompt describing an application, followed by a stream of LLM generated code. Are we at the holy grail of no code development? And how will that impact our jobs as software builders?
Mainframe computers are still widely deployed. At the time of their adoption (in some cases over half a century ago), mainframes were cutting edge technology.
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