Start with honesty
Every migration we’ve been part of taught us the same thing: the hard part isn’t the technology, it’s knowing what you actually have. Before anyone touches a workload, we spend time on discovery, because guessing at dependencies is how good projects turn into late ones.
Sequence for momentum
We’ve learned to sequence migrations so a team sees an early win. That builds confidence and funds the harder work that comes later. It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget when a plan looks tidy on a spreadsheet.
Keep the boring fundamentals
Backups, rollback plans, and clear ownership of cutovers are not exciting, and they’re exactly what saves you at 2 a.m. We try to treat them as the foundation, not an afterthought. Migration is a series of small, careful steps more than a single dramatic event.