Book Review: Kill It with Fire
The longer I work as a software engineer, the more I realize that we, as an industry, miss out on some important facts.
One of these facts is the sad reality that we focus on building new systems while carelessly neglecting the software systems that are already there and need to be supported.
The book “Kill It with Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems (and Future Proof Modern Ones)” provides a fresh and interesting look into how we can achieve just that: Making sure we build sustainable and long-lasting applications.
The author manages to address the challenges of handling legacy software engineering and provides a set of options for how to better handle them.
There are no code samples and framework recommendations. A framework (or a new technology) isn’t the silver bullet. As someone often focusing on the “people side” of software engineering, I found it very refreshing to read a book that recognizes that most of the challenges we face with legacy software aren’t necessarily rooted in the code itself but in the organization in which it was built and needs to be supported.
The book paints a picture of the overall environment and how we must ensure the environment is set up right so that the software system can flourish.
I can absolutely recommend it and would even consider it a must-read for all of us working with legacy software.
A clear thumbs up 👍.