{
  "id": 8227445,
  "title": "The People Who Understand Our Oldest Systems Retire Before It Does",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/the-people-who-understand-our-oldest-systems-retire-before-it-does",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-18T10:40:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/serguey_shinder_4ab9b87b1/the-people-who-understand-our-oldest-systems-retire-before-it-does-2gak"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The application that calculates our financial obligations and entitlements went live in 1998 and remains reliable and cost-effective. Its replacement has been proposed and postponed in four planning cycles due to the extensive time and budget required. Only four individuals fully comprehend this system, with an average age of fifty-six. Two of these individuals have hinted at retiring within the next few years, indicating a critical timeline for the department's plans. This situation is not solely about outdated technology or untaught programming languages. Two of the four individuals are adept with modern tools, but their true asset is their deep understanding of the organization's rule set. This knowledge encompasses the purpose behind nearly nine hundred customizations, their origins, and their relevance to specific regulations, mergers, or influential departures. Crucially, none of this information is documented, as there is no funding for such documentation when the system functions optimally. The thinning of service providers mirrors the thinning of expertise within the organization. Our support partner is facing the departure of two engineers who are capable of addressing complex inquiries about the product, both nearing the end of their careers. This scenario is not reflected in service level agreements. The current approach involves pairing younger engineers permanently with the system, although not as a rotational assignment, and accepting that this reduces delivery capacity. Paying above the market rate for these skills is necessary and openly discussed. The department is also working on cataloging customizations based on their risk level and documenting the reasons for each, although only about a fifth of this task is completed after eight months. Efforts are also made to retire unnecessary customizations, as each deletion results in the loss of vital knowledge. The industry's focus on modernizing an estate is often misplaced, as the primary constraint is rarely technology or budget; it is the scarcity of skilled personnel, whose availability is time-bound and not typically accounted for in plans.",
  "summary": "The application that calculates what we owe and what we are owed went live in 1998. It is reliable, it is cheap to run, and its replacement has been proposed and deferred in four separate planning rounds because it would consume most of a decade and most of a budget. I expect it to be running when I retire. Four people understand it properly. Their average age is fifty-six, and two of them have…",
  "key_points": [
    "The financial system application launched in 1998 remains reliable and cost-effective.",
    "Only four people understand the system, with an average age of fifty-six."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}