When You Inherit a System With No Source Code and No Documentation — A Practical Playbook for Keeping It Running (archived 2026-07-27)

A practical playbook for starting operations and maintenance on a business system that has no source code and no specifications. Covers preserving and backing up the running environment, taking inventory of executables and databases, recovering specifications from observed behavior, and deciding between life support, wrapping, and rebuilding. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/no-source-no-docs-system-maintenance/, as published on 2026-07-27. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-07-17.