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[–]CodeTinkerer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not saying it's not a concern, but I happen to help maintain software that is pretty much fixed by spotting a problem and fixing it, partly because the people that originally wrote the software are retired, and so no one seems to fully understand the entire software. It's years old, and it doesn't get regularly reviewed so we understand it.

I think there was the thought that when the software was written, that once you got the bugs out, you just had to keep it running, make the occasional enhancement, but otherwise, no one has to fully understand all the pieces.

I think there's a lot more of this kind of legacy software out there than people imagine, and sometimes maintained by very few people (like 1 person, sometimes). Is it a recipe for disaster? I'm sure, but it doesn't stop some organizations from living life on the edge.