Capture the setup of your cloud programme for success. In the Cloud Guidebook. The sponsoring. The staffing. The dependency resolutions. Here’s how.

This article is part of the limited preview of the “The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap”, a generic roadmap for any enterprise cloud adoption programme.

1. Executive Summary
2. The Cloud and Enterprises
3. The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap
   1. The Cloud Programme Roadmap
   2. The First Iteration of The Cloud Programme Roadmap
   3. The Unavoidable Disclaimer
   4. The Roadmap for The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap
   5. The Manual for the Missing Manual
   6. Building the Business Case
   7. Starting the Cloud Programme
      1. Key Achievements
      2. Setting up the Cloud Programme
      3. Attracting the Right Mind- and Skill Sets
      4. Putting People First
      5. Determining the Build-Out Principles for Cloud
      6. Getting Into the Details
      7. Recording Outcomes: The Cloud Guidebook
   8. Iteratively Building the Delivery Pipeline
   9. Iteratively Executing the Delivery Pipeline
4. A Cloudy Future

Recording Outcomes: The Cloud Guidebook

The main objective of this phase was to start, staff, and secure success of the cloud programme. Well, or at least significantly increase the chances thereof.

By now, the cloud programme should be well sponsored, funded, and staffed while having identified and kicked off the resolution of dependencies.

As described above, all definitions, frameworks, assessments, metrics, data points, decisions, and rationales leading to outcomes in this phase need to be captured in the “Cloud Guidebook”.

The Cloud Guidebook consists of two parts and provides the reasons as well as the course for all future activities in the context of The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap. At minimum, it needs to contain

1. The details around the cloud programme not already defined in the Cloud Manifesto, namely
   • key objectives and metrics based on realistic expectations
   • major known risks that can and should be controlled
   • a staffing strategy building a cross-functional cloud programme core team incentivised to deliver a solution that serves the needs of the organisation, first and foremost
2. The strategies and patterns developed in this phase, including
   • the people strategy providing training and experimentation for everyone
   • the build-out strategy, clarifying the organisation’s position on multi-region and multi-CSP strategy, bridging CSP gaps, and buying vs. building
   • the assessment and selection of strategic CSP partners
   • a detailed analysis of dependencies, including the start of initiatives to resolve them, in
     • corporate services that can be leveraged from or extended to the cloud
     • teams and processes impacted by the adoption of cloud
     • application inventory data for selecting candidate applications migrating to the cloud

The Cloud Guidebook is again to be published in print and distributed to all members of the programme — this step is pivotal. Not only does it impose a publication deadline on the programme but it also creates a solid point in time snapshot of the entire state of the programme.

Spending real money for publishing the document also increases its significance and importance. Let alone create a common understanding across the entire programme, document progress, as well as provide a physical part of the audit trail.

Iteratively Building the Delivery Pipeline

Find out more about it in the next article.

So, How Do You Record Outcomes?!

While the above Worx for Me!™ when it comes to recording the outcomes of the phase starting the cloud programme, you may have an alternative or better way.

Think this is all rubbish, massively overrated, or generally heading into the absolutely wrong direction?! Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and teach me something new!

As always, prove me wrong and I’ll buy you a pint!