Essay · 25 min read

Rewrite, refactor, or reinvent? Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories

Herb Caudill · herbcaudill.com Free Intermediate

If you only read one piece on this question, make it this one. Caudill studies six real cases (Netscape, Basecamp, VS Code, Gmail, FogBugz to Trello, FreshBooks) and shows the choice is not just rewrite versus refactor. His recurring lesson is to build the new thing next to the old one rather than tearing down what already works and earns.

  • The real options are more than rewrite versus refactor
  • Successful rewrites kept the old product running the whole time
  • Build the new version alongside the old, do not replace it in one leap
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The question it answers

  1. When is the right moment to stop iterating on the MVP and rebuild it properly, and how do I avoid the second-system rewrite trap?

Read with it

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