Article · ~8 min read

Strangler Fig Application

Martin Fowler · martinfowler.com Free Intermediate

If Spolsky tells you not to rewrite from scratch, this gives you the alternative: replace the old thing piece by piece while it keeps running, so you never take a big-bang risk. Fowler's strangler fig metaphor (a new system grows around the old one until it can stand alone) is the practical middle path between suffering the MVP and blowing it all up. A good next read once you have decided some part genuinely needs replacing.

  • You can modernize a system incrementally by building new features alongside the legacy code and gradually routing traffic away from the old path, instead of a risky all-at-once cutover.
  • Investment and returns arrive gradually and visibly, so you can stop, ship, or change course at any point rather than betting everything on one launch.
  • A facade or proxy in front of old and new lets you shift functionality over piece by piece while the product stays live for users.
Open on martinfowler.com ↗

It answers 2 questions

  1. I built my MVP on no-code but my technical co-founder wants to rewrite it in real code. When is that migration actually worth it?
  2. 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

  1. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  2. Video · ~13 min How to Plan an MVP Michael Seibel (YC)
  3. Michael Seibel, who ran YC, makes the blunt case for shipping something almost embarrassingly simple and learning from real... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · ~10 min video How to Build an MVP Michael Seibel
  4. This is the canonical warning against throwing away working code and rebuilding from scratch, told through Netscape's rewrite... Joel on Software Essay · ~10 min read Things You Should Never Do, Part I Joel Spolsky
  5. Concrete, field-tested advice on deciding which debt to pay and how to justify it. Orosz and Franco share practical rules of... The Pragmatic Engineer Article · 20 min read Paying down tech debt Gergely Orosz and Lou Franco
  6. The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →