“Getting off the Modernization Treadmill”

My notes from this talk by Alexander Petros at Big Sky DevCon 2026. Alex starts by noting how “modernize” used to mean something along the lines of “update this thing that was made before I was born”. But now “modernize” means something more like “update this thing from 5-10 years ago” (hence the framing of the talk, the “modernization treadmill”). Using a real-world example of an incredibly slow website that was required to access state-sponsored programs for welfare, Alex points out the disparity in conditions between those of us who make software and those who have to use them: The people who develop these websites are usually doing so on high-powered internet connections and high-powered devices, but they're not using them in the conditions that the people who most need those benefits are going to be. Then he shows a Reddit thread where somebody essentially posted, “I’m having problems with this website. I’ve been waiting for months for my application to go through. Any…