- It's my advice after doing this for 20 plus years
that you take on only a few applications at a time.
Those that try to do too much seem to fail
and it becomes harder to recover.
Do a mix of new applications and migration
of old applications to see what doing each is like.
You'll find that some are easier than others
And you'll also find you should note
what the differences are.
Get the talent you need.
The chances of success are directly related
to the quality of skills you have in house.
Think small, meaning that we're going to focus
on smaller groups of newer existing applications
to build or migrate to the Cloud.
Most mistakes that I see can be traced back
to attempting to do too much too soon.
Think simple, migrating to too many Cloud brands
at the same time, will spread you too thin.
Save the more complex things for the next project.
Budget for mistakes, meaning you're going to make a few,
selecting the wrong Cloud platform
or the wrong tool set is just the way it goes.
It will happen and you should not kill your first project.
Getting approval from the top means your leadership
has blessed the project and is aware of its importance.
No bucks, no buck rogers.
It's the basic stance you'll need to take moving
to the Cloud whether it's the first time or the 20th time
requires a great deal of money.
In some instances, your leadership may look
to the cost savings to pay for the Cloud migration.
This is typically unreasonable.
It can take many years before your Cloud
can pay back the investment.
And furthermore, just trying to build Cloud using
a zero sum game, won't get you to the Cloud
at the speed that you need.
Finally and most importantly, don't be afraid to fail.
You'll find that failing is a learning event
with Cloud computing.
It's new and chances are that
the way you're leveraging Cloud-based resources is unique.
Thus from time to time, things are not going to work
and you'll have to take a few steps back and try again.
For instance, moving a database to the Cloud may result
in too much latency for the end user.
In this case, it needs to be placed back on premises
and other applications and data stores need to be considered
for the public Cloud.
Get to work, this is only something
that you'll learn when you try.
This means that you'll take on all aspects
of Cloud computing including readiness,
migration and building solutions.
Join the team at first and learn from your peers.
Understand that this will be
a continuous learning situation pretty much forever
and that's what makes Cloud computing so exciting.