Software Maintenance and Rescue
Practical guides to help you make the next decision with confidence.
37 guides
What Is Software Maintenance?
Software maintenance covers corrective, adaptive, preventive and improvement work that keeps a working application reliable and current.
What Should a Software Maintenance Contract Include?
What a small business should check in a maintenance contract: covered systems, severity levels, change requests, ownership of code and access, and exit terms.
Signs That Your Existing Application Needs Maintenance
Recurring errors, broken integrations, staff workarounds and old support tickets are signs it’s time to review your application’s maintenance.
How to Take Over Software Developed by Another Company
A practical sequence for taking over an application built by a previous vendor: access, environment, dependencies, risk and handover.
What to Do When Your Software Developer Is No Longer Available
A step-by-step response when the person who built or ran your software has left or gone unreachable: access, backups, risk and next steps.
How to Audit an Undocumented Codebase
A practical method for reviewing an inherited application with no documentation: access, mapping, data flow, risk and a usable system map.
Should You Repair, Modernise or Rebuild Legacy Software?
How to decide between repairing, modernising or rebuilding an ageing application, based on business fit, risk and genuine uncertainty.
How Technical Debt Affects Business Growth
What technical debt actually costs a growing business in slower delivery and more incidents, and how to manage it without freezing features.
How to Upgrade an Old Laravel, React, Node.js or Mobile Application
A safe process for upgrading an ageing Laravel, React, Node.js or mobile application, and how to check what is actually still supported.
What Is an Application Support SLA?
How to read an application support SLA: severity, response and restoration targets, support hours, exclusions, escalation and review.
How to Plan Software Version Upgrades
A repeatable process for planning software upgrades: a version inventory, vendor support dates, risk-based scheduling and a tested rollback.
How to Reduce Dependence on One Developer
A practical plan for reducing single-developer risk: an inventory, company-owned accounts, documentation, shared ownership and a rehearsed handover.
Showing 12 of 37 guides
All 37 guides in Software Maintenance and Rescue as a plain list
- What Is Software Maintenance?
- What Should a Software Maintenance Contract Include?
- Signs That Your Existing Application Needs Maintenance
- How to Take Over Software Developed by Another Company
- What to Do When Your Software Developer Is No Longer Available
- How to Audit an Undocumented Codebase
- Should You Repair, Modernise or Rebuild Legacy Software?
- How Technical Debt Affects Business Growth
- How to Upgrade an Old Laravel, React, Node.js or Mobile Application
- What Is an Application Support SLA?
- How to Plan Software Version Upgrades
- How to Reduce Dependence on One Developer
- Managed IT Support vs an In-House IT Person: Which an Office Needs
- Signs Your Office Has Outgrown Informal IT Support
- What Managed IT Support Covers and What It Leaves Out
- How to Plan a Software Upgrade Without Disrupting Daily Work
- IT baseline checklist for a small office: devices, accounts, backups
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: which suits a small office
- What drives the cost of software maintenance
- How to rescue a software project that stopped before launch
- Questions to ask a managed IT provider before you sign
- Per user, per device or flat fee: how to choose IT support billing
- Backups that were never restored: how to find out if yours work
- Vendor handover checklist: code, hosting, keys and accounts
- PHP end of life: what an unsupported version puts at risk
- Finish a stalled software project or start again: what decides it
- Questions to ask a company before it takes over your software
- New starter and leaver IT checklist template for HR and IT
- What to do after a staff member clicks a phishing link
- Why office laptops are slow and what to check before replacing them
- Former staff still have access: how to find the accounts left behind
- Store notice that your app will be pulled: what to fix first
- How to tell whether your backups would actually restore
- Maintenance retainer, pay per fix or your own developer
- IT helpdesk explained: tickets, priorities and response targets
- What an application health report should tell a non technical owner
- How to take over an app a freelancer left behind