Up at 5AM: The 5AM Solutions Blog

Alan Kay introduced an idea that the best way to predict the future is to invent in. 5AM takes this idea seriously, continuously honing our Glassbox methodology to empower our customers to drive and receive the change they want. A common perception is that people resist change. We have found that people resist what they perceive as threats. The ability to change is to address the threats (aka risks) by answering five key questions. Legacy systems offer a fine example.

Legacy systems are often misunderstood by both executives and technology lovers. The views are often stark, with vehement opinions expressed that pivot around the voice being heard and who has been around long enough to know why it was purchased, built, or bought in the first place. Some will scream “it’s dated,” that “we can’t maintain it,” or “it has to go” -- while others bark that “our business is tuned to it,” that “it meets our compliance needs,” or “there is nothing in the market that can do exactly what this does!” Over time, other dependencies grow attached to these systems, which make change even harder to visualize and wrap your arms around. This is particularly true in 5AM’s fields of choice, where rapid change is the norm across technology, science, and medicine, adding to the pressure cooker where those advances appear to be within one’s grasp but remain elusive. This is true even when paper is the legacy system--and it often is. So how can you move forward and not be trapped when your organization begins to see the end of life for a legacy system?