diff --git a/playbooks/roles/mailman3/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/mailman3/tasks/main.yaml
index b15ef26d50..d408e13d1f 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/mailman3/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/mailman3/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -223,8 +223,8 @@
 # can identify a single method that is reliable this list can be trimmed.
 - name: Wait for DB to be populated
   command: >
-    docker exec mailman-compose_database_1 bash -c
-    'mysql -u mailman -p"$MYSQL_PASSWORD" -D mailmandb -e
+    /usr/local/bin/docker-compose -f /etc/mailman-compose/docker-compose.yaml exec -T database
+    bash -c 'mysql -u mailman -p"$MYSQL_PASSWORD" -D mailmandb -e
     "SHOW TABLES LIKE \"auth_user\";"'
   register: django_db_exists
   delay: 1
@@ -233,7 +233,8 @@
 
 - name: Wait for DB to be populated second approach
   command: >
-    docker exec mailman-core sh -c 'alembic -c /usr/lib/python*/site-packages/mailman/config/alembic.cfg current'
+    /usr/local/bin/docker-compose -f /etc/mailman-compose/docker-compose.yaml exec -T mailman-core
+    sh -c 'alembic -c /usr/lib/python*/site-packages/mailman/config/alembic.cfg current'
   register: alembic_version
   delay: 1
   retries: 300
@@ -241,9 +242,8 @@
 
 - name: Wait for DB to be populated third approach
   shell: >
-    docker exec mailman-web bash -c
-    'python3 manage.py showmigrations' |
-    grep -q '^ \[ \] [0-9]\+_.*'
+    /usr/local/bin/docker-compose -f /etc/mailman-compose/docker-compose.yaml exec -T mailman-web
+    bash -c 'python3 manage.py showmigrations' | grep -q '^ \[ \] [0-9]\+_.*'
   register: django_db_migrations
   delay: 1
   retries: 300
@@ -255,16 +255,16 @@
 
 - name: Check if django admin user exists
   command: >
-    docker exec mailman-compose_database_1 bash -c
-    'mysql -u mailman -p"$MYSQL_PASSWORD" -D mailmandb -e
+    /usr/local/bin/docker-compose -f /etc/mailman-compose/docker-compose.yaml exec -T database
+    bash -c 'mysql -u mailman -p"$MYSQL_PASSWORD" -D mailmandb -e
     "SELECT COUNT(id) FROM auth_user WHERE id = 1 AND is_superuser = 1;"'
   register: django_admin_exists
 
 - name: Create django admin user
   when: django_admin_exists.stdout_lines[1] == "0"
   command: >
-    docker exec mailman-web bash -c
-    "DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD={{ mailman3_admin_password }}
+    /usr/local/bin/docker-compose -f /etc/mailman-compose/docker-compose.yaml exec -T mailman-web
+    bash -c "DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD={{ mailman3_admin_password }}
     python3 manage.py createsuperuser --no-input
     --username {{ mailman3_admin_user }}
     --email '{{ mailman3_admin_email }}'"