Home/Inherited software checklist

What to check first.

A 25-point checklist for anyone who has taken over software someone else built. No code reading needed. Use it before you change, hire for, or pay for anything.

What is inside6 sections

Access and ownership

Know what you own and who can get in. (5 checks)

Can it be run?

If nobody can run it from scratch, nobody can safely change it. (5 checks)

Safety

The quickest way to spot risk. (5 checks)

Data

Your data outlives any code. (3 checks)

Code health

You do not need to read code to ask these. (4 checks)

Decide

Turn what you found into a plan. (3 checks)

A sampleFrom “Access and ownership”
  • Confirm you own the software, or have the right to change it (contract, licence, who holds the code).
  • List every account involved: domain registrar, DNS, hosting, app stores, payment provider, email sending, analytics and any third-party services.
  • Check that at least two people you trust can sign in to each account, so nothing depends on one person.

Rather have us look at it?

We review software other people built, tell you plainly what we find, and fix the urgent problems first.

Take over my software