First of all, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since February. I’m sorry. I mean, hopefully it only affects me, but I have so much I want to document and I keep not having time. New role, new team, new skills. Too hard to keep on top. Thanks to Christian for the excuse to easily pull together a blog based on these amazing #TweetJams
As a reminder, if you’re new to the #TweetJam concept, Tweets are short. Currently, Twitter restricts comments to 280 characters and, where URLs are present, using URL shortening to help get the most out of this limited space. If you jump into the conversation, you may see “(1/2)” in a post, which means the poster needed more than 280 characters, so check out that person’s Twitter stream to see the rest of the message.
#CollabTalk does some great stuff helping organize the hundreds of posts that come through in an hour by breaking up the topic into seven questions and requesting everyone use #collabtalk and A1 where the number matches the question. Good stuff if you’re trying to keep up.
Below are my answers to today’s seven questions, and a few of my favorites from the community (way too many to share them all!). I welcome your feedback either in the comments or on Twitter! But if you do join us on Twitter make sure you follow the rules!! Use #CollabTalk A$ where $ is the question number (e.g., “#CollabTalk A3”).
Q1: What are the most common challenges for companies who have not yet moved to the cloud?
I didn’t walk into today thinking it was going to be deep dive on the risks of hybrid, but Kurt and Wes really kicked things off with the right tone. Why are we doing hybrid, and for how long, and what is the impact of that … costs? skills?
Q2: Must companies move to the cloud, or are there valid reasons for remaining on-premises?
I want to thank Kurt for this completely unexpected link to a thought-provoking comparison to the expected benefits vs the reality of a large amount of data centers in Ireland. It’s a lot to unpack, and likely somewhat biased, but there’s some really interesting stats about datacenter lifespan, actual effect on job growth, and even environmental impact. I’d love to read more on the topic
Adam Ball with the win on this gem. The impact of security due to the scale of the cloud could be a great tweetjam topic on its own!
Q3: What are the major (and sometimes hidden) costs of cloud migration?
Galen hits the nail on the head for one of the primary reasons to go “hybrid”
Q4: Is a hybrid approach the right path for most organizations moving to the cloud, or does it just add complexity?
I love this chat between our host, West Preston, and Eric Overfield not just about the technology but the skills required to properly support M365 and Hybrid solutions. A legacy dev may not have the right mindset for managing cloud, so watch out for skilling issues:
Q5: When it comes to cloud adoption, what are the major challenges, and why?
Noah, Dwayne, and our host kill it with this conversation about adoption: ownership. As a parent of young children, I’ve learned that the more I push them to do something, the less they want to do it. However, the more engaged they are in defining the problem, the effect of that problem, and the solution, the more excited they get in doing it.
Q6: How should companies approach customizations and personalization when planning a move to the cloud?
Back to security, thanks for pointing out the potential negative effect of customizations, Hal!
Another unintended consequence of customizations: breakage. Shari is right on queue here: when you create customizations you become a permanent software development shop. The APIs, the UI, the user needs. It all changes. Today, tomorrow, next year. You will be redeveloping your customizations MUCH MORE than your dev team assures you will.
Q7: Are there risks of starting a cloud migration without a fully developed plan in place? What are your best practices?
I love the way Mike and Wes wrapped up the tweetjam. This discussion on skill, the impact of timelines, the education of NOT JUST the end users but the entire project team. I applaud you, gentlemen! Unfortunately, the preview only shows the last two messages, so click through to see the entire repartee!
#CommunityRocks
As always, #CommunityRocks. Shari Oswald captures it best with this closing tweet
