Reuse your last project without its old customer's details

Reusing work is how building buys time back. I don't have to solve the same problem every Tuesday. But drag the old details along, and your new software very efficiently does the last guy's job: his questions, his phone number, his answers going to his team.

1. List everything in the piece you're reusing. A form, a follow-up process, a page. Write down the layout, every question, the wording, the checks, who can see it, where the answers go, and every name, number and business fact.
2. Split the list in two. What carries over. What belongs to that customer. When you're not sure, it goes on the second list.
3. Give the AI both lists. If you're having AI adapt it, tell it what to keep, what to replace, and to flag anything that still looks like the old customer instead of guessing. The prompt is below.
4. Review the second list yourself. Questions, wording, access, destinations, phone numbers, service areas. Nothing moves over unreviewed.
5. Run a fake lead through and see where it lands. Check the saved record, the confirmation message, the alert and who can see it.
6. Search the new version for the old customer. Their name, phone number and website. If anything turns up, it's not done.

Paste this into your AI tool and fill in the brackets:

I'm reusing a [form / process / page] from an old project in a new one.

Old project: [what it was for, who it was for]
New project: [what this one is for, who fills it out, where answers go]

Keep (carries over): [layout, the checks for missing answers, ...]
Replace (belongs to the old customer): [questions, wording, who can
see it, where answers go, names, phone numbers, business facts]

Adapt it for the new project. Then list every question, label, rule
and destination, and say whether you changed it or kept it.
Flag anything that still looks like it belongs to the old customer.
Don't guess at business facts. Leave [FILL IN] instead.

Last spring you built a lead form for Bright Ridge Roofing. Now you need a demo request form for a scheduling app called PlanRight.

Carries over: the layout, the check that stops a form going out without a phone number, the thank-you page design. Belongs to the roofer: "How old is your roof?", "Is this an insurance claim?", the service-area list, Bright Ridge's number in the confirmation text, and answers going to the roofer's sales team.

New questions: company size, what they use now, best time for a demo. Answers go to the person who runs demos. Then a fake lead, "TEST Demo Check," runs through. The record and alert are right. The confirmation text still shows Bright Ridge's phone number. Good catch, before a real prospect calls a roofer about scheduling software.

• Copying everything and fixing what you notice. You'll notice the logo. You won't notice where the answers go.
• Letting AI decide what's customer-specific. Give it the lists.
• Skipping the fake lead because it looks right. Looking right and landing right are different checks.
• Forgetting access. The old team still seeing the new answers is the quiet one.

Take the part that works. Leave the old customer's phone number behind. Reusable doesn't mean photocopy it and pray.