A cloud migration is a project management problem wearing a technology costume. The teams that succeed spend their first two weeks documenting what talks to what.
1. Discovery
Inventory every server, service, scheduled job and integration. Nothing moves until it appears on this list.
2. Dependency mapping
Map inbound and outbound connections for each workload. Hidden batch jobs and printer drivers cause more cutover failures than databases do.
3. Target design
Right-size the target rather than replicating existing hardware. Size for observed load, not for the spec sheet of the machine you bought in 2019.
4. Pilot move
Migrate one non-critical workload end to end. This validates the runbook, not the hardware.
5. Cutover
Schedule the switch inside working hours with the full team available, and agree the rollback trigger before you begin.
6. Hypercare
Two weeks of heightened monitoring with a named engineer on call.