Making decisions on the technology that will power a company is one of the most important responsibilities a CTO will take on in their role. Although we like to think we are in a fast-paced industry, always changing, always evolving, the reality is that production systems can last decades without any significant change. This is quite a sobering thought—the system you are developing now could still be running when you are looking to retire. How can this be, you ask yourself? The reasons a production system can last for so long can include the following:
- The technology stack does not lend itself to incremental updates easily.
- The technology leadership over the years don’t wish (or know how) to touch the sacred cow.
- The leadership has no experience of anything but the current technology.
- It becomes so critical that replacing or upgrading it is too high a risk or cost.
- Hubris—it was built perfectly, so how can you improve on perfection?