New this week on Ask Good Questions:
Don’t Pave the Cow Paths
One of the easiest traps when modernizing old software is assuming the existing application is the specification.
Sometimes the business rules absolutely need to survive.
The screens, workflows, reports, and assumptions may not.
That matters even more now that AI can take an old application and reproduce it in a modern web stack faster than ever. If we don’t stop and ask what people actually need in the new environment, we can end up with a beautiful modern implementation of a 25-year-old workflow.
The matching Field Note, The 20 Rooms That Matter, tells the story of a hotel management project from more than 40 years ago that first taught me that lesson.
https://askgoodquestions.dev/guides/dont-pave-the-cow-paths
https://askgoodquestions.dev/field-notes/the-20-rooms-that-matter