| First of all, make sure the client and you agree on what the long-term strategy is. Then get buy-in for a first step in this direction. If the system is as bad as you make it sound, the long-term goal has got to be a complete replacement of the existing codebase. That will usually require as much effort, and thus money, as writing the existing version did. (Experience shows there's is no reason to confidently assume different.) Then, explain how to get there without doing a (hopeless) complete rewrite in one big bang: First, you need to make a set of decisions for the new code you're going to write, i.e. the language, framework(s), architecture, whatever you want to new code to be based on. Next, you try to modularize the existing system so that you can replace one tiny part. That's going to be really, really hard - modularizing a systems after it's in production always is. Don't do it all at once: If you've isolated some small piece of so that there's a clear interface (based on a programming language API, a database interface or (my favorite) some RESTful HTTP API), rewrite that small piece using your new technology stack and integrate it with the existing monstrosity. Once you have done that successfully for some small aspect, you have some sort of proof that this approach can work. Then, over the next months (or more likely: years), rinse and repeat. This is a hugely expensive thing to do, but that shouldn't come as a surprise – after all, you're replacing the organs in a living body while it's running a marathon on its last breath. An MBA should understand that the additional cost is because this strategy drastically reduces the risk. You can explain to the customer that they can try this out using just a small part, and decide whether or not they want to continue afterwards. Point out that you're going to start with those parts that produce most of the existing pain. Explain that you're helping them to return to a situation in which they have fewer bugs, can introduce new features quickly and easily, and best of all, that the end result will be a system that's modularized, hopefully ensuring that they won't run into the same situation again. If they expect you to do magic, i.e. maintain the mess and magically turn it into a good piece of software without being allowed to actually change it significantly, get out of the contract as quickly as you can. |