Legacy doesn’t have to mean “bad.” In this episode of Technical Debt: Design, Risk and Beyond, hosts Maxim Silaev and Nikita Golovko discuss and challenge the myths around legacy code. They explore when legacy systems are a liability, when they’re a quiet strength, and why fear often drives decisions more than facts.

Drawing from personal stories and consulting experiences, they discuss real cases where legacy code either supported growth for years or quietly undermined business stability. You’ll hear about LinkedIn’s feed re-architecture, a startup that collapsed under information debt, and a client who treated a fragile core system as untouchable — until it broke the business.

Topics we've covered:

• Why legacy does not automatically mean a "four-letter word"
• The danger of rewriting for emotional reasons
• Lessons learned from LinkedIn’s feed modernisation
• A case study: a startup incomplete by unreliable external data
• The “untouchable module” that brought down a client product
• Practical ways to revive legacy without burning all down

Next episode: What Does It Really Mean to Pay Off Technical Debt?