Reverse engineering a legacy software in a complex system: A systems engineering approach
summary
Combines CAFCR model with practical reverse engineering and live code tracing to map legacy software to system goals, decomposing into stakeholder/application/functional/conceptual/realization views. Uses a box‑cutting machine example to show focusing on productivity drives, identifying a handful of critical modules and weak links, then producing a snapshot and a roadmap (Gantt or critical paths) that forces refactor of specific components before feature work. Claims this cuts wasted effort versus full rewrite and enables incremental, goal‑aligned maintenance.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:43Legacy Software as System component
- 6:25CAFCR and ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010
- 10:32Solution
- 12:57Case Analysis - Activity 1.1: System
- 17:41Case Analysis - Activity 1.2: Software
- 19:41Case Analysis - Activity 1.3: Identify Main
- 21:31Case Analysis - Activity 1.5: Identify Threads of
- 26:34Case Analysis - Activity 2.1-2.2: Roadmaps
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