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An on-demand learning experience from the people who brought you The Phoenix Project, Team Topologies, Accelerate, and more.
Learn how making work visible, value stream management, and flow metrics can affect change in your organization.
Clarify team interactions for fast flow using simple sense-making approaches and tools.
Multiple award-winning CTO, researcher, and bestselling author Gene Kim hosts enterprise technology and business leaders.
In the first part of this two-part episode of The Idealcast, Gene Kim speaks with Dr. Ron Westrum, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University.
In the first episode of Season 2 of The Idealcast, Gene Kim speaks with Admiral John Richardson, who served as Chief of Naval Operations for four years.
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DevOps best practices, case studies, organizational change, ways of working, and the latest thinking affecting business and technology leadership.
Is slowify a real word?
Could right fit help talent discover more meaning and satisfaction at work and help companies find lost productivity?
The values and philosophies that frame the processes, procedures, and practices of DevOps.
This post presents the four key metrics to measure software delivery performance.
November 7, 2024
Organizations face critical decisions when selecting cloud service providers (CSPs). A recent paper titled Strategic Decision-Making in Cloud Services: De-Risking Cloud Lock-In offers insights for senior technology leaders, particularly those in the United States Government, as they navigate these complex choices.
The authors challenge common assumptions about cloud vendor selection and provide practical guidance for making informed decisions that balance flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and risk mitigation.
The paper begins by highlighting the significance of choosing a CSP, noting that for large enterprises, cloud migrations are multiyear efforts often viewed as irreversible. Organizations typically choose between three common cloud approaches:
The authors address two pervasive myths that often influence cloud decision-making:
While avoiding lock-in is a good idea in theory, the authors argue that it can never be fully avoided—only displaced. Every layer of the technology stack involves some level of vendor reliance. The key is to strategically manage lock-in rather than attempting to completely avoid it.
While this sounds reasonable, the reality is more complex. The authors point out that finding professionals with expertise across multiple cloud platforms is rare, especially in areas like procurement, security, and compliance. Organizations adopting a multi-cloud strategy need to concurrently implement plans to hire and retain skilled professionals across diverse technology ecosystems.
The paper outlines significant costs and risks associated with multi-cloud approaches, particularly at the extremes of the spectrum:
To address these challenges, the authors provide guidance across several dimensions:
The authors emphasize the importance of considering the scope of the cloud strategy, whether it’s for a team, project, product, or entire enterprise. They recommend using tools like Wardley maps to visualize interdependent capabilities and invest appropriately.
For USG projects, it’s crucial to understand constraints related to obtaining Authority to Operate (ATO). This includes assessing the skills of technology, compliance, privacy, and procurement staff in understanding different CSPs. The authors advise evaluating the risks of vendor lock-in against other costs, such as expensive cloud-agnostic workloads or staffing CSP-proficient teams.
The cloud landscape is constantly changing, requiring organizations to adapt. The authors recommend:
Even if not building fully cloud-agnostic workloads, organizations can prepare for potential exits by:
The authors offer several practical recommendations for organizations navigating cloud decisions:
The paper concludes by acknowledging the complexity of cloud vendor selection, particularly for USG entities that may lack overarching cloud governance models. The authors suggest that in an ideal world, collaboration and mutual support across CSPs used by the public sector would be incentivized.
In the absence of such a scenario, they recommend focusing on SLOs, SLIs, and defining clear organizational goals and performance benchmarks. By following successful adoption patterns and adjusting strategies to account for the true costs of multi-cloud complexity, leaders can make informed decisions that will serve their organizations well into the future.
Key Takeaways
For technology leaders grappling with cloud vendor selection, particularly those in the USG, this paper offers valuable insights and practical strategies for navigating these complex decisions. By challenging common assumptions and providing a framework for strategic decision-making, the authors equip leaders to make more informed choices that balance flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and risk mitigation in their cloud journeys.
To gain a deeper understanding of these concepts and how they might apply to your specific organizational context, we encourage you to read the full paper and consider how these insights can inform your cloud strategy and vendor selection process.
Articles created by summarizing a piece of original content from the author (with the help of AI).
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