So You’ve Decided To Do a Technical Migration

The presentation titled "So You’ve Decided To Do a Technical Migration" by Sophie Koonin, a staff engineer at Monzo Bank, discusses the challenges and considerations involved in technical migrations, using Monzo’s recent TypeScript migration as a case study.

Overview:

• Migrations are complex and can often seem like a straightforward task that turns into an extended process filled with unforeseen challenges.
• The purpose is to share experiences from Monzo’s migration to TypeScript and offer a toolkit for future migrations.

Key Challenges:

• Migrations can be unpredictable due to unexpected problems and interruptions.
• It's crucial to balance organizational priorities against the migration effort.

Important Strategies:

• Incremental Approach: Conduct the migration in steps rather than all at once, especially when dealing with a large codebase, to reduce risks.
• Tooling: Use scripting tools extensively to automate and manage parts of the migration.
• Documentation: Maintain thorough documentation to keep everyone informed and aligned.
• Stakeholder Communication: Clearly articulate the value and cost of the migration to gain necessary support.

Lessons Learned:

• Having a clearly defined rollback plan is vital, although Monzo sometimes proceeded without a backup due to the nature of the changes involved.
• Tooling is invaluable in eliminating manual steps and speeding up the process.

Conclusion:

• Consider whether a migration is necessary and whether the potential benefits outweigh the effort.
• Be cautious of changing technologies and resist adopting new ones solely due to trends.

Sophie concludes with advice to thoroughly plan and consider the necessity of migration projects before starting, recognizing the real challenges they pose.

This is the end of the AI-generated content.

It seems like there’s always a hot new library or framework promising great things. But people often forget about the pain and effort required to move from an old technology to a new one. How long will it take? If you finish, will it be worth it? And if you don’t, could it leave you in a worse place than where you started?

Drawing from my experience of the Typescript migration we recently completed at Monzo I’ll take you through some of the different outcomes of technical migrations and the things we learned along the way, and leave you with a toolkit to tackle your next migration project.