> It sounds like the highest levels of management have written what is being run, and yet not want to seem to maintain it, or directly lead the engineering org.

Well, in their defense: they have to, you know... run the company.

Engineering was supposed to maintain the current software, but they (engineering) chose to deprecate it and make a new version from scratch. It is just taking way longer than expected, three years and just a fraction of the original functionality.

> If an employee finds a much better way of doing things, the founders should be happy, but they may be sending mixed signals.

Problem is: they're not doing anything better. Customers prefer the old software. Other employees prefer the old software. Even some people on the team prefer the old software.