The Apocalypse Meme in Software

Who am i

• Software Contractor in Ireland
• Legacy Web Apps focussed
• DDD IE Co-Organiser

@barryosull

Barry O Sullivan

Where did this talk come from

Polytheism

Zoroastrianism and the birth of monotheism

Evolution of monotheism

• Judaism (after ~500BCE)
• Christianity
• Islam
• Jehovaha's Witnesses

The problem with monotheism

Why is the world flawed?

The Apocalypse meme

• The current world is flawed
• The perfect world is possible
• The perfect world will happen when we purify/rid ourselves of the current world

Developers

Complete Rewrite

Current System

Previous Developers

The Apocalypse meme
in Software

• The current system is flawed
• The perfect system is possible
• The perfect system will happen when we rid ourselves of the current system

The BIG rewrite

• Green field
• Bike-shedding of Solution space
• No understanding of problem space (The legacy)
• Ideology driven, believing in a single perfect system

MULTIPLIER HEURISTICS

Cognitive biases that multiply the effects:

• False dichotomy
• Tribalism
• Availability heuristic
• Optimism bias

ACCEPT THAT THE

IS EXERTING CONTROL

Q & A