What I do:

I work in and improve legacy web apps, be that as an individual or as part of a team. Legacy is what we leave behind, and any software that's brings value is going to have its pain points. I work with these systems to change and update behaviour, adding clarity and removing noise.

I work remotely so I am able to work with you no matter where you are in the world. I practice active listening, active communication and living documentation, ensuring clear communication and quality results. Distance will not be a problem.

What I can do for you:

I can help you if you're in the following situations:

• High developer attrition has lead to a codebase no-one can understand or change
• Failed rewrite or modernisation that's a drain on resources and isn't delivering value
• Growth stage business but development is now a bottleneck and is slowing you down
• Hiring more developers isn't scaling and you're going slower, not faster

The Legacy process:

Working with legacy is a difficult process and requires a range of approaches to succeed. Below is a selection of the processes and skills I use to learn and improve your product's codebase.

• Domain Cartography: Map the domain using the code as a guide
• TDD: Test to understand and add stability; bug free releases are good releases
• Continuous Refactoring: Gain understanding by iterating and improving; go faster
• Collaborative Modelling: Share knowledge and mental models visually; learn to design/communicate together
• Agile: Focus on value and working software over rigid process and accurate estimates; enable the team to succeed
• Tooling: Lean on tools to highlight and fix pain points; embrace the OSS ecosystem
• CI/CD: Automatic testing and deployments; release often, fix bugs quickly, gain momentum
• Empathy: Work with the team to succeed; understand their goals and pain the mitigate it
• Org Anthropology: Understand the org culture and history; gain deeper understanding of the product

Technologies:

I primarily work in legacy PHP codebases, but I'm also skilled in improving Javascript systems and can get comfortable in most programming languages. Messy code takes common shapes, usually based on the paradigms of the language, once you understand those you can spot the patterns and create solutions.