Foreword to the Blog Edition

This is a summarized and edited version of the "Replacing Legacy" series published in Analyst's Corner on Medium from June 2023 to January 2024.

The original Medium articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The Blog edition keeps the same structure:

• Part 1. Definition, Reasons, Characteristics
• Part 2. Archeology, Politics, Red Flags
• Part 3. Conversion & Data Mapping
• Part 4. Business Logic Burden
• Part 5. Cloud, SaaS Legacy, and AI

I started that topic when I made a public speech in 2019 describing BA challenges in a Legacy-replacing project dealing with a three-decade-old COBOL monolith. Four years later, I did a retrospective about that project and shared the lessons I had learned at a BArszawa Community meetup.

Then, I thought publishing my meetup materials as two articles on Medium would be a great idea. After publishing the first piece, I agreed to join the "Analyst's Corner" publication. I got incredible feedback, which inspired me to write three more articles.

Now, they are available for everyone as a single long-read on my blog with some minor adjustments in the text. I still see potential improvements to the narrative, so I might rewrite some pieces one day.

Enjoy reading!

Sample of COBOL code generated by ChatGPT