RailsConf 2023 - Taylor’s Guide to Big Rewrites by Andy Croll

Taylorism, is a system of management advocated by Fred W. Taylor. The task of management, as he saw it, is to find the best way for the worker to do the job, with proper tools and training, and to provide incentives for good performance. There are certain things you’re meant to do in software projects and business. And certain things you’re not. A big rewrite of your app is one of the things you aren’t meant to do. Except that’s what we did with a team of 4 engineers, over an 18 month period, successfully migrating 2,500 customer’s data. How can we apply the learnings of Taylor, to a massive application rewrite? What did we do and what can you learn when you’re faced with a wild and woolly project? What about our business practises as well as our code helped us make a success of one of software’s shibboleths?