Build the middle ground on the old tool

MVPs change every week. Urgent work keeps pushing the go live date. If you wait for the new system to start the new process, you start late and learn late.

So I build the new process on the old tool first.

What that looks like

Run the new workflow on the spreadsheet, the shared inbox or the legacy system, with the same steps and the same owners the new system will have. The tool is worse. The process is already the real one.

Why it works

• The team learns early, while mistakes are cheap.
• The transition becomes a tool swap, not a behavior change.
• You have a working fallback if go live breaks.

Where the risk really sits

People assume the risk is the client contract. In my experience it is internal planning. The contract date holds. Your own team's readiness is what slips.

An old tool running the new process is not a compromise. It is a rehearsal.