Hi Craig! Prefect is a workflow orchestrator, so you are correct - it is coordinating what code runs, where it runs, when it runs, etc. This gives you control across all of your tools/code, let's you build data pipelines quickly with a Pythonic DX, and (just as importantly) visibility when things fail so you can identify exactly how to recover quickly.
You'd probably be best off chatting live with our product advocate team. They can help you understand Prefect 2 concepts better, and help you identify what's going on with your Prefect 1 setup.
Here's a Calendly link, I'd encourage you to book some time. Alternatively,
advocates@prefect.io is how you can get in touch via email. cc
@Sahil Rangwala and
@Bianca Hoch