Atrophy in Aging Systems: Evidence, Dynamics, and Antidote

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.

History: Yulin Fang, Senior Editor; Ning Su, Associate Editor.

Funding: H. Safadi acknowledges support from the Terry-Sanford Research Award.

Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.1218.