When Greenfield Is The Solution To Brownfield

Not once but several times I have witnessed or had direct knowledge of Greenfield projects successfully replacing or improving Brownfield projects.

This would run counter to the general rule that Greenfield is not the solution to Brownfield. Both are true, which can be understood by realizing that these special cases will not generalize across all efforts. These special cases share one common characteristic. They accepted limitations and often tried to accomplished only one limited objective.

One effort that occurred at a company I worked at set out to merely reorder and make more sensible the object hierarchy common to all items. The actual functionality was not changed, just the implementation details. The language used was not changed. No new methodologies were introduced. The objective was limited and a success. A success even though it was late, because it actually did result in an improved product.