Progressive modernization or big-bang overhaul: the real strategic dilemma

A system that ages eventually drags everything else down. Even the smallest change turns into a project, costs blow up, technical debt piles on, and teams spend more time working around problems than creating value.

Then comes the dilemma: modernize gradually, or rebuild everything at once?

Big-bang rewrites can create momentum, but they also bring risks, delays, and value loss. Progressive modernization requires cadence and discipline, but it keeps the company ready to absorb technological and strategic shocks. And those shocks rarely announce themselves ahead of time. Another revolution always comes. Steve Jobs, quoted in Good Strategy Bad Strategy, reminded us of this: you have to stay ready for the next big thing.

Continuous modernization relies on concrete levers: lean tools and kaizen to reduce debt every day, standardization to increase reliability, TPM to keep systems healthy, AI to speed up refactoring, language migrations, weak-spot detection, and automatic documentation. With these practices, the system becomes more reversible and easier to evolve. And when incremental work hits its limits, you can turn to a rebuild strategy.

Waiting creates a snowball effect: technical debt grows, options shrink, rewrites become urgent, and the opportunity cost increases every day.

With:

• Claire Van de Voorde, Chief Product Officer & Product Advisor
• Fabrice Bernhard, CTO of Theodo, author of the Lean Tech Manifesto
• Flavian Hautbois, author of Build to Sell, CEO of Taktique Academy

This webinar puts the dilemma on the table, with a conversation led by Flavian. We’ll talk value, architecture, technical debt, hidden costs, modernization pace, and full-scale rebuild strategies — and above all: strategy, value, and what it takes to stay ready.

This event also happens in French at 12:30 CET