Ask HN: Inherited the worst code and tech team I have ever seen. How to fix it?

I have to find a strategy to fix this development team without managing them directly. Here is an overview:

- this code generates more than 20 million dollars a year of revenue

- it runs on PHP

- it has been developed for 12 years directly on production with no source control ( hello index-new_2021-test-john_v2.php )

- it doesn't use composer or any dependency management. It's all require_once.

- it doesn't use any framework

- the routing is managed exclusively as rewrites in NGInX ( the NGInX config is around 10,000 lines )

- no code has ever been deleted. Things are just added . I gather the reason for that is because it was developed on production directly and deleting things is too risky.

- the database structure is the same mess, no migrations, etc... When adding a column, because of the volume of data, they add a new table with a join.

- JS and CSS is the same. Multiple versions of jQuery fighting each other depending on which page you are or even on the same page.

- no MVC pattern of course, or whatever pattern. No templating library. It's PHP 2003 style.

- In many places I see controllers like files making curl requests to its own rest API (via domain name, not localhost) doing oauth authorizations, etc... Just to get the menu items or list of products...

- no caching ( but there is memcached but only used for sessions ...)

- team is 3 people, quite junior. One backend, one front, one iOS/android. Resistance to change is huge.

- productivity is abysmal which is understandable. The mess is just too huge to be able to build anything.

This business unit has a pretty aggressive roadmap as management and HQ has no real understanding of these blockers. And post COVID, budget is really tight.

I know a full rewrite is necessary, but how to balance it?

doesn't the strangler pattern assume it's already modularized within the monorepo?

rewriting would probably be the biggest mistake you could make. you need to refactor things little by little, and avoid making changes that would be made redundant later by changes that happen later on.

figure out what you want to fix first, and then fix that. then go to the next thing. but keep in mind - "management and HQ has no real understanding", and as far as they are concerned, what they have works.

if this doesn't sound like something you want to do, then find a new job. you are effectively the property manager for a run-down rental property. you aren't going to convince the owners to tear it down and build a new set of condos.

1. Build a functional test system, and write a big suite of tests which ensure preservation of behavior. Make it easy to run and see the results.

2. Slowly start extracting code and making small functions. Document like crazy in the code as you learn. Keep the single file or close to it, and don't worry about frameworks yet.

3. Introduce unit tests with each new function if you can.

After all that is done, make a plan for next steps (framework, practices, replace tech etc).

Along the way, take the jr backend engineer under your wing, explain everything, and ensure they are a strong ally.

Call me crazy, but that project sounds like fun.

This is the correct answer. I’ve heard enough stories on HN about nightmare-level codebases that churn out massive profits. One dude had his entire application in a single PHP file and was generating like 20k/month.