Replacing Old Tech : Dos and Donts

Replacing Old Tech : Dos and Donts

Looking to replace a tool in your tech stack?

I’ve seen this done seamlessly and also at times in such convoluted ways it made my teeth itch. 😬

Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge, sometimes support, sometimes it’s just fatigue and one too few coffees.

So here are my Do’s and Don’ts, all (fortunately and unfortunately) from real life experiences!

❌ Don’t accidentally map the new product to the old product's fields essentially making the overall system rely on the old product still being active.

❌ Don’t cut off access to the old tool and force your team to use the new tool before it’s ready (and you've had time to test thoroughly 😵 ).

❌ Don’t start removing mapping and creating new custom fields before understanding how they can affect existing processes.

✅ Do delegate a systems lead (*cough* RevOps cough) to complete the due diligence PRIOR to making any changes – understand what other tools and processes depend on its function.

✅ Do use a Sandbox to remove the existing tool and install the new tool for testing before connecting it.

✅ Do, before making changes in Production, track all your changes when setting up the Sandbox to know how to properly reproduce them.

Getting a new tool in the mix can be exciting or fill your team with dread.

If you’ve done the work to know a tool needs to be replaced and found the tool to replace it, don’t skimp out at the last minute.

Make sure you understand the full scope of the changes and get someone systems oriented overseeing its replacement. Oh and did I mention testing?

The time and goodwill you’ll lose doing otherwise isn’t worth it.