Somebody is leaving, or already has
Start with readiness if a handover is coming, and with dependency if you are trying to work out how bad it would be. The checklist is the one to print and take into the meeting.
- Free tool Handover readiness Nineteen questions about ownership, operability, understanding and recovery. The result is what is confirmed, what is not, and what to check before the handover rather than during it — not a score. Could another team take this system over?
- Free tool Developer dependency Fifteen questions on knowledge concentration, access concentration, infrastructure ownership, undocumented areas and handover readiness. Interpretable answers, not an opaque risk score. How much of this system lives in one person?
- Free tool Handover checklist Forty-one items across code, environments, infrastructure, data, integrations, operations and knowledge. Tick them off in the browser, or print the whole thing. No email required. What has to change hands in a software handover?
- Free tool Handover delay calculator An illustrative calculation of what reverse-engineering time and a delayed release cost, from figures you enter. It shows its assumptions and it does not claim any of it as a saving. What would a delayed handover cost us?
One supplier holds everything
Dependency on an agency is a set of facts about who holds what, and every one of them is checkable this week — usually without asking anybody.
You are responsible for a system you did not build
A new technical leader, or an owner who does not read code. Different jobs, the same underlying question: which answers can you actually get?
- Free tool New CTO plan Answer six questions about the situation you are walking into and get a thirty-day plan built from them — weighted for team size, legacy, documentation condition, contractors and whether anything is currently on fire. What should my first thirty days actually contain?
- Free tool Founder knowledge check Twelve plain-language questions about your own system. It tells you which answers you have, which you only think you have, and which are worth chasing this month. Which answers about your own software can you actually get?
Before you decide about 1ADK
One shows exactly what would leave your machine. The other is willing to tell you to use something else, and does so in six of its nine endings.
- Free tool Metadata preview A worked example of an Evidence Package, field by field, with what is sent, what is never sent, and an honest section on where metadata can still be sensitive. What exactly would leave my machine?
- Free tool Solution selector A short decision tree that is allowed to recommend against 1ADK — and often does. Six of its endings are something else: a coding agent, a documentation tool, an architecture tool, a security scanner or a consultant. What is the right thing for your situation?
The rules these follow
- No email gate. Nothing here is behind an address. A checklist you have to pay for with contact details is a lead magnet, not a checklist.
- Nothing is submitted. There is no endpoint behind any of these pages. Answers stay in your browser and leave when you clear them.
- No score. A composite number over unrelated facts hides the one that was going to hurt you. Every result is named groups with the items visible.
- They work without JavaScript. Every question and all of its guidance is in the HTML. Scripting adds the summary, not the content.
- They can say "not this". The selector recommends against 1ADK more often than for it, and the calculator refuses to claim a saving.