The other day I found myself thinking about an architecture modernisation project that I was fortunate to be involved in 15 years ago, together with Equinor (then Statoil) in Trondheim.

That team was without a doubt one of the best I’ve ever worked with, and I have very fond memories of the project. So, I decided to reach out to one of the people who was involved back then, Atle Haugan. To my great joy, he told me that the system was still alive and kicking, even blossoming!

They’ve continued evolving the system ever since the renovation project, and that’s the main reason it’s in such good shape today and can support new opportunities. To me, the fact that they’re still investing in its evolution is a strong signal that it’s still a genuinely valuable system. Also that continuous adaptation is smooth for them.

Another team member from that time, Ellen Lippe, and I gave a presentation about the project at Øredev 2011. Back then, most conference talks were about what could and should be done. Therefore it was especially fun to talk about what had actually been done – and what the outcome was. Unfortunately there were issues with the sound recording, so the video was never published.

I gave the same presentation again at NDC Oslo 2012, this time by myself since Ellen couldn’t make it. The version we did together was definitely better, but this one is still reasonably informative, I think.

Oh, and during this project was the first time I met Gøran Hansen and that was a blast. He joined the team after a while and I definitely learned a lot from him too!

Three years after the renovation project, I got the following comment from another team member, Kjell Einar Mikkelsen (translated to English by me): “I look back on the time of that project as the most important in my career. An amazing learning experience.”

It was definitely an amazing learning experience for me too! A big thanks for that, and for all the fond memories, to the great Sing team at Equinor!

Initiatives for architecture modernisations / renovations / remakes / transformations / adaptations can be incredibly valuable, that’s what they all have in common. That said, every situation is different and context is king.

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