Caution: entering this session may expose you to ancient code smells and architectural traps.

Every line of code tells a story, but in the enterprise world some of those stories are written in hieroglyphics. We’re going on an expedition into the depths of legacy systems, where we’ll unearth treasures like “the system we lost the source code for back in 2005,” “the mysterious one-line fix nobody remembers why we made,” and the fabled “connection string that’s still sitting in source control six years later.”

This session is about taking back control of your software products: starting with the big picture, figuring out what’s actually out there, and deciding which systems deserve a proper archeological dig.

Like ancient tombs, some codebases are cursed. They’re better left sealed up and undisturbed and we’ll talk about how to know the difference.

And then we’ll dive headfirst into the tools that can help us catalog our archeological and architectural findings, so the next generation won’t need a Rosetta Stone just to understand what we left behind.

Bring your curiosity and walk away with a clearer picture of what architects do, plus some practical strategies for your own digs into past architectures, whether accidental or deliberate. This is one expedition you won’t want to miss.

Delivered in Stockholm at DevSum 2025 and in Kansas City at KCDC 2025. Suitable for architects, developers who want to be an architect and CTO/CIO level managers. No technical requirements I could do this talk on a whiteboard if needed.