diff --git a/provisioning/playbook.yml b/provisioning/playbook.yml
index 1a62fe8..3fd81ae 100644
--- a/provisioning/playbook.yml
+++ b/provisioning/playbook.yml
@@ -168,11 +168,12 @@
       shell: "openssl rand -base64 50"
       register: secret_key_output
       changed_when: false
-      when: secret_key == '' or secret_key is not defined
+      when: secret_key | default('') == ''
+
     - name: Set generated SECRET_KEY fact
       set_fact:
         secret_key: "{{ secret_key_output.stdout }}"
-      when: secret_key == '' or secret_key is not defined
+      when: secret_key | default('') == ''
     - name: Generate NetBox configuration
       template:
         src: configuration.py.j2