Product Strategy

A practical roadmap for modernising your legacy web platform

5 min read · Suitable for product owners, CTOs and business sponsors

If your core application is slow, fragile or difficult to change, you're not alone. Many organisations rely on systems that were built years ago, with outdated technologies and assumptions. Modernising that platform can feel risky — but postponing the decision is usually even riskier.

Step 1: Understand where you are today

Start with a discovery phase that goes beyond a simple code review. Talk to stakeholders, interview users and capture pain points. Map key user journeys and list the technical constraints that slow down delivery today.

  • Which parts of the system are most critical to business operations?
  • Where does your team spend the most time fixing issues or performing manual workarounds?
  • What are the biggest risks — security, performance, vendor lock-in or something else?

Step 2: Define a target vision

Once you understand the current state, sketch a target architecture and experience. You don't need every detail, but you should know what “good” looks like in terms of user experience, scalability and maintainability.

Align on priorities: is the main driver performance, security, usability or faster feature delivery? This will shape the roadmap.

Step 3: Plan a phased migration

Big-bang rewrites are risky. Instead, plan a staged approach that delivers value in increments. Typical phases might include:

  • Stabilise and document the current system.
  • Extract critical services behind clear APIs.
  • Introduce a new frontend or module by module.
  • Gradually retire legacy components and infrastructure.

Step 4: Invest in testing and observability

Modernisation projects only succeed when quality is baked in. Automated tests, monitoring and logging help you detect issues early and build confidence in each release.

Step 5: Communicate progress frequently

Keep stakeholders informed with regular demos, clear metrics and honest updates. Show not only what has been built, but also which risks have been retired along the way.

With the right roadmap, modernisation becomes a series of manageable steps instead of a single giant leap. If you're planning a similar initiative, our team can help you design a practical, low-risk path forward.