A Designer's Guide to Working with Legacy Systems
A Designer's Guide to Working with Legacy Systems

Sizwe Moabi
My talk is about how to work with legacy systems as a UX Designer. Often times we want to work on new software, or we want to redesign the existing products but we rarely ever think about the legacy systems. The old websites, the old government software, the old enterprise, corporate software that is outdated and is aging badly. We like the look and feel of new products but we cannot hope to improve existing systems if we don't sit with the tediousness of them. If we don't sit and face the uncomfortable software. As designers, we can improve existing systems if we strategically approach it from a caring point of view. With that being said, it's not an easy task. It's a difficult job with it's own nuances and somehow somewhere somebody has got to do it. My talk will be about understanding the context with which you find yourself working in as a designer, why legacy systems matter, the importance of knowledge transfer, how to approach redesigning outdated software, your relationship with developers when it comes to working on legacy products. How big your team size is. Why more capacity = more work being covered. Wins for your team, how to fight for your designs and best practices to employ. I will also be talking Usability and why taking shortcuts in the moment may seem good but it will cost your organisation the big wins in the long run. My talk is inspired by my current role as a designer working in the Tertiary Education space.
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