Enlightenment for websites

I’m working on upgrading a project to Umbraco to 7. In the process, I’m trying to clear as much technical debt as I can. We’ve had a few blogs on technical debt so read this if you don’t know what that is. The end product of this upgrade is (ideally) the exact same website working as it does now, looking as it does now. There lies the problem. It’s really difficult to explain and justify budget expenditure on something that seemingly doesn’t improve the site, that doesn’t give the user a better experience.

There’s a proverb that says “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” It means that there’s no difference to your daily life after attaining enlightenment. On the surface, you eat, sleep, work and play the same way you did before becoming One with the Universe. At least that’s how I read it. It’s not that nothing happens, all the changes are internal. It’s in how you experience the world, how you react to the events around you. You are in control of yourself, your emotions, you are at peace with everything. And this is the ultimate happiness.

In the same way, once you port your legacy applications, cleanup your code base, your site will run more smoothly and be easier to maintain. Yes on the surface, the site looks and functions exactly the same, but behind the scenes, you’ll have paid your tech debt and your site will flow like a tranquil stream.