Comment by simonbarker87
1 day ago
Excellent bit of pragmatism and as a user of this service I’m happy with the trade off.
People wondering why it’s not a simple switch and “there must be something else going on here” have clearly never worked with layers of legacy systems where the data actually matters. Sure it’s fixable and it’s a shame it hasn’t been but don’t assume there aren’t very good reasons why it’s not a quick fix.
The gov.uk team have moved mountains over the past decade, members of it have earned the right to be believed when they say “it’s not simple”.
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Yes I’d imagine the reason it still hasn’t been fixed after nearly a decade is management/politics etc. But it taking more than just 6 months will be technical. As a result it’s a job that falls into the area of being canned because it’s taking too long even though no one said it would be quick.
There might be legal / compliance reasons. It can be incredibly difficult to replace a validated system that is known (or already accepted even if it's technically incorrect) to implement lawmaker dictated behavior.
Otherwise, I think a new approach might be to ignore the specifics of the old system, implement a new system, and a separate translation layer that can run on an export of the old system (or the old system brought back online, but read only after the overnight maintenance) and completely cut over during an otherwise holiday weekend.
2 replies →
> Having legacy data and systems for a few years is a challenge. Still having them after decades is government.
FTFY
> Having legacy data... after decades is incompetence
Harsh
How long does a person hold a drivers license?
That's just data. "Legacy data" was used here to suggest a legacy database/storage system. The reality is that the situation is not due to an insurmountable technical problem but due to a combination of lack of funds / prioritization / motivation / knowledge.