You know the scene: you join a new project, open the repo, and find a monster. Thousands of lines with no tests, no documentation, and not a single person who remembers why anything is there. Take a breath. Tomas Vukasovic put together a survival playbook for exactly that moment.
The first weeks: observe before you touch
Your instinct says "let's fix everything now." Bad idea. Like that Indiana Jones scene where moving the wrong stone triggers every trap, touching code you don't understand can set off chaos. Tom's advice is the opposite: the first weeks are for reading, mapping, and understanding, not for refactoring at random.
How to add value without burning out
The key is earning trust through small wins. Instead of promising an epic rewrite, solve concrete things the client actually notices. Each small, safe change builds credibility and gives you the context you need for the bigger ones. That's the difference between the hero who burns out in a week and the one who actually rescues the project.
Incremental changes that heal the project
Once you understand the terrain, the real work begins: introducing improvements gradually, without slowing the business down. Tests where they hurt most, surgical refactors, minimal but useful documentation. It's not glamorous, but it's what turns a monster codebase into one you can actually live with. And that kind of patience is something we genuinely value at Howdy.
Watch the full talk
Hit play for Tom's complete playbook, with real-world examples from the trenches. And if you're a developer who isn't afraid of real challenges, check out the opportunities at Howdy.
