Where do we go next? Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, making cloud moves easier – Sarah Lean – Ep 133

There is no doubt the world has changed in many ways in the last 3 months, the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it has been something we have not witnessed before. From a technology point of view, it has presented many challenges, delivering remote IT at scale, stretched VPN’s, flexibility, support, security, the list is long. However as things start to change we are starting to turn our attention to returning to some kind of “normal”, but this also presents an opportunity to us, the chance to take what we have learned over this period and take that knowledge and experience to help plan what we do next, so that next time we need to react quickly to change we can do it better.

To help with that I’ve put together a short series of shows looking at where to next for some of our technology decision making (you can still listen to parts one and two) in this third part we pick up on something we discussed in the initial episode the “journey to cloud” and how do we make that easier? Especially as more of us are now re-evaluating the part that public cloud is going to play in our technology strategies, be that starting to look at cloud where you hadn’t before, accelerating existing cloud projects or reviewing what you have done so far. However, that move to the cloud can be complex, so wouldn’t it be great if there was a freely available set of tools and good practice guidance out there for you to use and reference as you plan your cloud migration?

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Microsoft Cloud Advocate Sarah Lean to discuss one such set of tools, created by Microsoft, their partners and customers the Cloud Adoption Framework, a hugely valuable set of resources that you can take advantage of regardless of where you are in your cloud project.

During our chat we discuss.

• What the framework is and why it exists.
• How it can help educate users and dispel some of the myths of the public cloud.
• The importance of knowing where you currently are before you start deploying more cloud.
• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• Where people slip up!
• Don’t get lost in the tech remember the business case.
• Nuggets of wisdom.
• Other types of Microsoft help.

As Sarah discusses in the show, the Cloud Adoption Framework is not the only way to move to the cloud, but what it does provide is a good set of reference documents that you can use to help you with your cloud projects regardless of whether you want to follow the document closely or just use it to see if there is something you’ve forgotten it doesn’t matter it’s just another useful tool in your cloud project “armoury”. You can find the Cloud Adoption Framework here https://aka.ms/caf.

To find out more from Sarah including her excellent weekly update videos sharing the latest news on Azure you can find here across social media at Techielass including on Twitter and at techielass.com you will also find more about Azure via her teams Microsoft Channel 9 site. Finally, if you want to chat with Sarah you can book a one on one chat via her office hours bookings site (bring your own coffee though!).

If you have an idea for the show or would like to appear as a guest you can contact me via podcast@techstringy.com and to catch futures episodes please subscribe.

Until next time, thanks for listening.