I still remember my first legacy modernization project. We had a COBOL system for inventory, billing, and customer service. Executives wanted it gone, gave us eighteen months and a blank check to rewrite everything in Java. We said yes. That was the mistake. A year in, we still didn't understand all the business rules. By the time we had a prototype, the company had acquired another business and changed two pricing models. The pilot failed. Warehouse staff couldn't ship for six hours. We rolled back.
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