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This. So much.

I'd argue that the first order of business is getting the code committed to SCM. Then you can coach the team on new branches (features/bugs), and build the culture of using the SCM. Do this before going to the execs and giving the 10,000 meter view.

Go to the execs and get buy in on the scope of what you need. I'd recomment articulating it in terms of risk reduction. You have a $20M revenue stream, and little control/testing over the machinery that generates this. You'll work on implementing a plan to get this under control (have an outline of this ready, and note that you need to assess more to fill in the details). You need space/time/resources to get this done.

Then get the testing in place. Make this part of the culture of SCM use. Reward the team for developing sanity/functionality tests. Get CI/CD going (a simple one, that just works). From this you can articulate (with the team's input), coding/testing standards to be adhered to.

After all this, start identifying the problematic low hanging fruit. Work each problem (have a clear problem statement, a limited scope for the problem, and a desired solution). You are not there to boil the ocean (rewrite the entire thing). You are there to make their engineering processes better, and move them to a more productive environment. Any low hanging fruit will have a specific need/risk attached to it. Like "we drop tables/columns regularly using user input." Based upon the culture you created with SCM/testing, you can have the team develop the tests for expected and various corner cases. From that, you can replace the low hanging fruit.

Keep doing that until the fruit is no longer low hanging. Prove to the execs that you can manage/solve problems. Once you have that done, you can make a longer term roadmap appeal, that is, start looking at what version 2.0 (or whatever number) would look like, and what internal bits you need to change to get there.

Basically, evolution, not revolution. Easier for execs under pressure to deliver results to swallow. Explain in terms of risks/costs and benefits, though in the near term, most of the focus sounds like it should be on risk reduction.



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