In the world of software, products and systems don’t just remain static, they evolve, accumulate technical debt, and sometimes become an unmanageable mess of outdated frameworks, workarounds, and fragile dependencies.

When dealing with a 15-year-old platform, the question isn’t just how to modernize but what to modernize. Should you refactor piece by piece or completely rebuild? What about adding that new feature for the Product Owner. The answer isn’t always obvious.

This session explores how blending product thinking with software modernization leads to better outcomes. We’ll examine the lens of long-term product strategy, user needs, and business value. Using real-world lessons from a long-running SaaS product, a case study in modernizing a complex legacy platform, we’ll highlight how to balance technical constraints with customer expectations.

Whether you’re leading a legacy transformation or trying to avoid one in the future, this talk will showcase some smart modernization decisions that don’t make the business take a full stop.