Atrophy in Aging Systems: Evidence, Dynamics, and Antidote

Amrit Tiwana () and Hani Safadi ()
Additional contact information
Amrit Tiwana: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Hani Safadi: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

Information Systems Research, 2024, vol. 35, issue 1, 66-86

Abstract: A pervasive, unbroached phenomenon is how once-modern systems age into unmaintainable albatrosses. We conceptualize this phenomenon from first-principles as system atrophy . We construct a trace data set from 190 million lines of evolving code in 1,354 systems spanning 25 years to corroborate it. Our middle-range theory introduces system atrophy into the conversation on information systems evolution, showing how small increments in modularity slow atrophy but lose potency with age. Atrophy eventually stunts systems, increases bugginess, and disengages developers.

Keywords: system atrophy; code rot; architecture; dynamics of modularity; IS aging; open source; time; IT evolution; generativity; trace data; albatross; data streams; computationally-intensive methods; evolutionary dynamics; code analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.1218 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:35:y:2024:i:1:p:66-86

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Information Systems Research from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().