Unleash the full potential of the The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap! Get your business to the cloud quicker! For once, please read the manual!

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
      1. Iterate, Reset, and Cancel
      2. A Golden Source of Truth
      3. Publishing Milestone Documents in Print
   6. Building the Business Case
   7. Starting the Cloud Programme
   8. Iteratively Building the Delivery Pipeline
   9. Iteratively Executing the Delivery Pipeline
4. A Cloudy Future

The Manual for the Missing Manual

It’s not without a certain irony that The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap actually requires a (short) manual of how to use it. But then the roadmap is somewhat special. And the right way of reading and applying it again drastically increase its chances of success. Frankly speaking, how good is a map held upside down?!

Iterate, Reset, and Cancel

The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap is neither a linear work flow nor a box ticking exercise. It’s deliberately iterative by is very nature.

Many roadmap items may need to be iterated several times before a point, section, or phase can be successfully completed. Even if it means going back to already completed items and re-opening them once again.

Most importantly, do not hesitate to hit reset on certain sections or to even jump back to the beginning, taking with you all the lessons learned!

Although the main objective of The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap is to move your business to the cloud, it may turn out that that’s currently not possible for valid reasons uncovered by the roadmap. Don’t ignoring the inconvenient truth based on hard evidence in a desperate push to adopt the cloud!

Actively look for disconfirming evidence. Do not hesitate to cancel certain parts or even the entire adoption of cloud. A resounding negative result based on hard evidence is still a resounding success.

The sooner you can do all of the above, the more agony (read: pain and frustration) you will save yourself down the road! Let alone money and quality of life.

Fail fast. Learn cheap. Iterate. Reset. Cancel.

A Golden Source of Truth

Capturing the materials related to the programme can seem like a tedious task. But without it, the programme as well as the broader organisation will rapidly be suffering from amnesia and all its grim consequences.

This is especially true for pivotal steps taken by the programme.

All information, actions, and decisions related to the programme (including their rationale) need to be recorded in the programme log, published, and distributed to stakeholders as well as people implementing the strategy.

The main goal is to provide a golden source of truth not only providing guidance but also an audit trail for the entire span of the programme. As well as far after its completion.

Publishing Milestone Documents in Print

The outcomes of each phase need to be captured in corresponding documents. Over the course of the cloud programme, this creates a series of successive documents charting the path from the planning to the execution phase with ever increasing levels of details.

As each phase builds on the outcome of the previous one (bar the first phase), these documents are a key ingredient to keeping the entire programme on course. They set the direction. They provide guidance. They remove ambiguity. They are

1. The Cloud Manifesto capturing outcomes and rationales of the phase building the business case
2. The Cloud Guidebook recording outcomes and rationales of the phase starting, staffing and securing the success of the cloud programme
3. The Cloud Handbook documenting outcomes and rationales of the phase iteratively building the delivery pipeline
4. The Cloud Runbooks and the The Cloud Reflections capturing outcomes and rationales of the phase iteratively executing the delivery pipeline

Except for The Cloud Runbooks, all of the above documents need to be published in print and then distributed to all members of the cloud programme — this step is pivotal. Not only does it impose a publication deadline on the entire programme but it also creates a written point in time snapshot of the state of the programme.

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

Building the Business Case

Find out more about it in the next article.

So, How Do You Ensure Success?!

While the above Worx for Me!™ when it comes to significantly increasing the odds of success for The Missing Cloud Programme Roadmap, 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!