Discover the quirks of legacy systems, like the DVLA's unavailability at 3 AM. The hosts delve into the complexities of modernizing crucial mainframe systems, advocating for incremental improvements over daunting rewrites. Personal anecdotes and technical insights reveal the challenges of evolving billing systems from COBOL and the legacy mindsets that hinder innovation. Emphasizing the importance of historical context, they argue for navigating these digital dinosaurs with gradual enhancements instead of radical changes.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
DVLA Downtime
The UK's Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) website has some services unavailable overnight.
This is due to a legacy mainframe system and batch jobs running during those hours.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Squirrel's Billing System
Douglas Squirrel worked on a similar billing system with a mainframe and batch processes.
They had to understand the mainframe's behavior, including old code written in COBOL.
insights INSIGHT
Batch Thinking
Rewriting entire systems is difficult due to "batch thinking" ingrained in organizations.
This mindset makes it hard to adopt modern, iterative approaches like continuous billing.
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Why can't I apply for a driving license at 3 AM? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey in discussion on the history and challenges of modernising legacy systems and how delivering incremental improvements can "strangle" the pitfalls of a full rewrite, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile.
Links:
- Dafydd Vaughan on DVLA batch systems: https://dafyddvaughan.uk/blog/2025/why-some-dvla-digital-services-dont-work-at-night/
- Joel Spolsky on not rewriting: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/
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And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com
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About Your Hosts
Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.
Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html
Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/
Troubleshooting Agile