Legacy systems handover
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I'm a freelance developer and typically work for small businesses, either supporting their systems or writing new ones. Very often I'm the only "IT Guy" involved with the business, and they tend to rely very heavily upon me for guidance. In 2016 I developed a Line-of-Business application (browser-based, ASP.Net WebForms with MySql d/b) for a business that employs around 20 staff with a further 120 or so contractors relying heavily upon them for work. The application meets their needs exactly, is very reliable and has (until last year) needed very little tweaking. More recently as the business has developed new features have been requested which have been added easily and very cost effectively. It's quite a complex system but designed to be highly expandable, with as much common code as possible. Right from the outset, the owners were wary of effectively putting their business in the hands of a single, (at the time) unknown individual consultant. However I'm now a trusted member of the team, proactively suggesting changes to the software and the business processes. I'm now in my mid-sixties and winding down my commercial activities. This is the last of my major clients but I spend an average of 10 - 15 chargeable hours per month for them. I also typically spend 15 - 20 minutes a day just "keeping an eye" on the system; things like checking backups are still running, disk space is fine, and reviewing the system's logs. Errors are all emailed to me but most are related to user error rather than highlighting any system problem, although occasionally things do need urgent, responsive action. The dilemma now is how to hand over this rather static but largish system to a 3rd party who can take on responsibility for day-to-day support plus ongoing development? The client doesn't have massive sums of money to spend, has no wish / need to have the system redeveloped, and doesn't understand the technologies involved to discuss on equal terms any future support provider. I've tried a few times (including through these pages) to find someone to take it on; I had one suitable offer but the route of a single freelancer doesn't remove the "single point of failure" concern of the client (i.e. what happens if the support individual falls under the proverbial bus or - more likely - dies of covid?). True, although wishing to retire I'm not expecting to "go" anywhere soon, so I am there for now as a backup. I did find one small consulting company, conveniently only 10 miles from the client, and they were taking on one or two s
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I'm a freelance developer and typically work for small businesses, either supporting their systems or writing new ones. Very often I'm the only "IT Guy" involved with the business, and they tend to rely very heavily upon me for guidance. In 2016 I developed a Line-of-Business application (browser-based, ASP.Net WebForms with MySql d/b) for a business that employs around 20 staff with a further 120 or so contractors relying heavily upon them for work. The application meets their needs exactly, is very reliable and has (until last year) needed very little tweaking. More recently as the business has developed new features have been requested which have been added easily and very cost effectively. It's quite a complex system but designed to be highly expandable, with as much common code as possible. Right from the outset, the owners were wary of effectively putting their business in the hands of a single, (at the time) unknown individual consultant. However I'm now a trusted member of the team, proactively suggesting changes to the software and the business processes. I'm now in my mid-sixties and winding down my commercial activities. This is the last of my major clients but I spend an average of 10 - 15 chargeable hours per month for them. I also typically spend 15 - 20 minutes a day just "keeping an eye" on the system; things like checking backups are still running, disk space is fine, and reviewing the system's logs. Errors are all emailed to me but most are related to user error rather than highlighting any system problem, although occasionally things do need urgent, responsive action. The dilemma now is how to hand over this rather static but largish system to a 3rd party who can take on responsibility for day-to-day support plus ongoing development? The client doesn't have massive sums of money to spend, has no wish / need to have the system redeveloped, and doesn't understand the technologies involved to discuss on equal terms any future support provider. I've tried a few times (including through these pages) to find someone to take it on; I had one suitable offer but the route of a single freelancer doesn't remove the "single point of failure" concern of the client (i.e. what happens if the support individual falls under the proverbial bus or - more likely - dies of covid?). True, although wishing to retire I'm not expecting to "go" anywhere soon, so I am there for now as a backup. I did find one small consulting company, conveniently only 10 miles from the client, and they were taking on one or two s
Not sure I really understand your question. The problem doesn't really seem to be you but rather them. They need to find someone to support the product. Best I can see here is that you are attempting to find that support for them and then get them to agree to it. For that scope of work you mention there are only two possibilities. # A single individual # A smaller consultant company. The first case does and always will have the single point of failure. There is no way around that. The second will cost the company more. Again no way around that. The first case could be mitigated but only if someone in the company became actively engaged in managing the process and if the problems were never immediate. Then they could hire one or two college students. Those students would be looking for real experience and would cost less. With active management then replacing them becomes a management problem and not a technical one. So if one disappears then the management process finds another. It must be active management because they will disappear.
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Not sure I really understand your question. The problem doesn't really seem to be you but rather them. They need to find someone to support the product. Best I can see here is that you are attempting to find that support for them and then get them to agree to it. For that scope of work you mention there are only two possibilities. # A single individual # A smaller consultant company. The first case does and always will have the single point of failure. There is no way around that. The second will cost the company more. Again no way around that. The first case could be mitigated but only if someone in the company became actively engaged in managing the process and if the problems were never immediate. Then they could hire one or two college students. Those students would be looking for real experience and would cost less. With active management then replacing them becomes a management problem and not a technical one. So if one disappears then the management process finds another. It must be active management because they will disappear.
You're right, it is essentially the client's problem in that they need to resource support for their system. In reality, they can't even fill in a web form from their hosting provider to upgrade their service; it's a bit of a miracle that they can actually use the system I built them! With zero IT knowledge, they're 100% reliant on trusted providers to point them in the right direction and make sure they get an appropriate provider, at appropriate support levels, for an appropriate price. That's what they're (quite happily) paying me to do. I could just suggest they go direct to an agency, and it may indeed come to that. As far as a trainee / apprentice / studentship goes, not sure that's a starter. Although it's a well-structured application, not sure too many recent graduates are looking to build up VB.Net WebForms experience right now... Whoever we find, my final question is possibly the one that concerns me most; given the system is large but essentially static, what's the best way to get a new support provider up to speed quickly? I guess it's something that happens in IT shops all over the place where new developers take on responsibility for an application; it's just not something I've had to do for 20 years or so!
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You're right, it is essentially the client's problem in that they need to resource support for their system. In reality, they can't even fill in a web form from their hosting provider to upgrade their service; it's a bit of a miracle that they can actually use the system I built them! With zero IT knowledge, they're 100% reliant on trusted providers to point them in the right direction and make sure they get an appropriate provider, at appropriate support levels, for an appropriate price. That's what they're (quite happily) paying me to do. I could just suggest they go direct to an agency, and it may indeed come to that. As far as a trainee / apprentice / studentship goes, not sure that's a starter. Although it's a well-structured application, not sure too many recent graduates are looking to build up VB.Net WebForms experience right now... Whoever we find, my final question is possibly the one that concerns me most; given the system is large but essentially static, what's the best way to get a new support provider up to speed quickly? I guess it's something that happens in IT shops all over the place where new developers take on responsibility for an application; it's just not something I've had to do for 20 years or so!
DerekT-P wrote:
I guess it's something that happens in IT shops all over the place
Not for the situation you described. Most, probably the vast majority, of places have an in house staff that manages it. Either manages the employees/contractors or manage the support consultant company which in turn also has someone that manages the actual people. In either of those cases there is a person that is responsible for the new people. Describing what needs to be done, determining how to monitor that it is getting done, and providing ongoing management of that.
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DerekT-P wrote:
I guess it's something that happens in IT shops all over the place
Not for the situation you described. Most, probably the vast majority, of places have an in house staff that manages it. Either manages the employees/contractors or manage the support consultant company which in turn also has someone that manages the actual people. In either of those cases there is a person that is responsible for the new people. Describing what needs to be done, determining how to monitor that it is getting done, and providing ongoing management of that.
I meant that getting a new tech up to speed on an existing system (with handover from the previous responsible person) is something that happens a lot. Whether that's "managed" or not, the handover still occurs. As it happens, because there is no other IT-literate person in the client company (which is often the case with my clients) I'm not only "doing" the handover, I'm also "managing" it.
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I'm a freelance developer and typically work for small businesses, either supporting their systems or writing new ones. Very often I'm the only "IT Guy" involved with the business, and they tend to rely very heavily upon me for guidance. In 2016 I developed a Line-of-Business application (browser-based, ASP.Net WebForms with MySql d/b) for a business that employs around 20 staff with a further 120 or so contractors relying heavily upon them for work. The application meets their needs exactly, is very reliable and has (until last year) needed very little tweaking. More recently as the business has developed new features have been requested which have been added easily and very cost effectively. It's quite a complex system but designed to be highly expandable, with as much common code as possible. Right from the outset, the owners were wary of effectively putting their business in the hands of a single, (at the time) unknown individual consultant. However I'm now a trusted member of the team, proactively suggesting changes to the software and the business processes. I'm now in my mid-sixties and winding down my commercial activities. This is the last of my major clients but I spend an average of 10 - 15 chargeable hours per month for them. I also typically spend 15 - 20 minutes a day just "keeping an eye" on the system; things like checking backups are still running, disk space is fine, and reviewing the system's logs. Errors are all emailed to me but most are related to user error rather than highlighting any system problem, although occasionally things do need urgent, responsive action. The dilemma now is how to hand over this rather static but largish system to a 3rd party who can take on responsibility for day-to-day support plus ongoing development? The client doesn't have massive sums of money to spend, has no wish / need to have the system redeveloped, and doesn't understand the technologies involved to discuss on equal terms any future support provider. I've tried a few times (including through these pages) to find someone to take it on; I had one suitable offer but the route of a single freelancer doesn't remove the "single point of failure" concern of the client (i.e. what happens if the support individual falls under the proverbial bus or - more likely - dies of covid?). True, although wishing to retire I'm not expecting to "go" anywhere soon, so I am there for now as a backup. I did find one small consulting company, conveniently only 10 miles from the client, and they were taking on one or two s
Do you support them remotely? Are they in the cloud? The backups would be part of a hosting plan. Don't know what else you could offload with a "reconfiguration". (I would never hear from clients about the actual system; just things like them forgetting what time zone they were in).
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I'm a freelance developer and typically work for small businesses, either supporting their systems or writing new ones. Very often I'm the only "IT Guy" involved with the business, and they tend to rely very heavily upon me for guidance. In 2016 I developed a Line-of-Business application (browser-based, ASP.Net WebForms with MySql d/b) for a business that employs around 20 staff with a further 120 or so contractors relying heavily upon them for work. The application meets their needs exactly, is very reliable and has (until last year) needed very little tweaking. More recently as the business has developed new features have been requested which have been added easily and very cost effectively. It's quite a complex system but designed to be highly expandable, with as much common code as possible. Right from the outset, the owners were wary of effectively putting their business in the hands of a single, (at the time) unknown individual consultant. However I'm now a trusted member of the team, proactively suggesting changes to the software and the business processes. I'm now in my mid-sixties and winding down my commercial activities. This is the last of my major clients but I spend an average of 10 - 15 chargeable hours per month for them. I also typically spend 15 - 20 minutes a day just "keeping an eye" on the system; things like checking backups are still running, disk space is fine, and reviewing the system's logs. Errors are all emailed to me but most are related to user error rather than highlighting any system problem, although occasionally things do need urgent, responsive action. The dilemma now is how to hand over this rather static but largish system to a 3rd party who can take on responsibility for day-to-day support plus ongoing development? The client doesn't have massive sums of money to spend, has no wish / need to have the system redeveloped, and doesn't understand the technologies involved to discuss on equal terms any future support provider. I've tried a few times (including through these pages) to find someone to take it on; I had one suitable offer but the route of a single freelancer doesn't remove the "single point of failure" concern of the client (i.e. what happens if the support individual falls under the proverbial bus or - more likely - dies of covid?). True, although wishing to retire I'm not expecting to "go" anywhere soon, so I am there for now as a backup. I did find one small consulting company, conveniently only 10 miles from the client, and they were taking on one or two s
Identify the parties involved in the handover. ... Define a clear deadline for the project handover. ... Create a communication plan early on in the process. ... Update the readme file with relevant information. ... Organize knowledge sharing sessions. ... Transfer codebase ownership..
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I'm a freelance developer and typically work for small businesses, either supporting their systems or writing new ones. Very often I'm the only "IT Guy" involved with the business, and they tend to rely very heavily upon me for guidance. In 2016 I developed a Line-of-Business application (browser-based, ASP.Net WebForms with MySql d/b) for a business that employs around 20 staff with a further 120 or so contractors relying heavily upon them for work. The application meets their needs exactly, is very reliable and has (until last year) needed very little tweaking. More recently as the business has developed new features have been requested which have been added easily and very cost effectively. It's quite a complex system but designed to be highly expandable, with as much common code as possible. Right from the outset, the owners were wary of effectively putting their business in the hands of a single, (at the time) unknown individual consultant. However I'm now a trusted member of the team, proactively suggesting changes to the software and the business processes. I'm now in my mid-sixties and winding down my commercial activities. This is the last of my major clients but I spend an average of 10 - 15 chargeable hours per month for them. I also typically spend 15 - 20 minutes a day just "keeping an eye" on the system; things like checking backups are still running, disk space is fine, and reviewing the system's logs. Errors are all emailed to me but most are related to user error rather than highlighting any system problem, although occasionally things do need urgent, responsive action. The dilemma now is how to hand over this rather static but largish system to a 3rd party who can take on responsibility for day-to-day support plus ongoing development? The client doesn't have massive sums of money to spend, has no wish / need to have the system redeveloped, and doesn't understand the technologies involved to discuss on equal terms any future support provider. I've tried a few times (including through these pages) to find someone to take it on; I had one suitable offer but the route of a single freelancer doesn't remove the "single point of failure" concern of the client (i.e. what happens if the support individual falls under the proverbial bus or - more likely - dies of covid?). True, although wishing to retire I'm not expecting to "go" anywhere soon, so I am there for now as a backup. I did find one small consulting company, conveniently only 10 miles from the client, and they were taking on one or two s
Identify the parties involved in the handover. ... Define a clear deadline for the project handover. ... Create a communication plan early on in the process. ... Update the readme file with relevant information. ... Organize knowledge sharing sessions. ... Transfer codebase ownership..