Transformation pendulum

It's well known that the most challenging part isn't just dealing with the mess itself but, first and foremost, acknowledging its existence. Next, one must endure the phase of denial and rejection before finally getting down to cleaning up. Usually, when you start sorting through piles of garbage to organize, arrange, or throw it away for a brief period - which later turns out to be most of the cleaning time - the mess only worsens. And so, the stage of doubt comes: the amount of energy and time spent trying to bring order to an Augean stable usually leads to desperate decisions, often ending with part of the clutter being hidden under the bed or in a closet... or moved to someone else's room. However, the bill comes due sooner or later because occupying someone else's space has a cost. That cost is relentlessly enforced, for the mess which is like a beard - grows unattended. Sometimes, in desperation, a decision is made to move all the chaos elsewhere, into a rented space, while selling or abandoning one's own. After all, you can live in a hotel, eat out, and own nothing. Minimalism is a blessing, and the sins of the past, which were hard to clean up, are neatly tucked away in a distant, not entirely familiar location. There, a team of specialists will handle sorting, breaking it down into components, and carefully calculating how much it costs to maintain it. Meanwhile, we enjoy the benefits - first, the solved problem, and second, life. Restaurants, trips, small bills... no need to worry, nothing major.

A small drop of water, when it freezes at several thousand meters up, has no idea that - by becoming a snowflake and gently drifting from the sky to the ground - it will ultimately turn into the force that triggers an avalanche, wiping out a peaceful alpine village on Christmas Eve. The same goes for miropayments. You never know when they will form waves that cannot be stopped. As they sweep through an organization, they meticulously wash away those who - desperately seeking success - decided to take shortcuts.

Digital transformation, cloud migration, DevOps adoption, or any other organizational change wasn't created to elevate the company to the next level and achieve those lofty ideals trumpeted in manifestos. Often, the goal was something far more fundamental - to get out of the mud. Innovative organizations didn't plan to adopt these trends to achieve their goals unconditionally. They were aware, however, that no internal force could clean up the mess they were buried in. This wasn't just about technology but, more importantly, about people and their mindset. Some changed and stayed, while others had to continue their careers elsewhere. Technology, as is often the case, was secondary. The change allowed organizations to dig through the mess, look into the beast's guts, and consciously or unconsciously decide what to do with its parts. However, the very fact that this confrontation with reality occurred led to an awareness of the solutions they had.

The decision to implement a "cloud-first" strategy was one of the more brutal ways of admitting the organization's problems. It wasn't a mistake, it was a valid solution to clean up the infrastructure and application mess in many cases. An incredibly costly operation but also a profoundly educational one. Aside from the technological changes, it provided a fantastic opportunity to remove certain people from positions they may have occupied for too long... Now we are observing a new front of transformation called repatriation which isn't the result of fail of the cloud idea. It's because some old debris is not so easily disposed of and it still forms the core of the business. Additionally, the exercises of recent years - "go cloud", "cloud-first" or "cloud-smart" policies - have contributed to a greater awareness of what we are doing with our IT environment, enabling us to make more accurate decisions about its structure, placement, and ultimately understanding the cost dynamics.

The pendulum swings again. One could paraphrase an old saying and declare that every transformation devours its children - not only the human but also the technological ones.

October 2024, Santa Clara, Cloud Field Day 21, thoughts based on https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tech-field-day_delegate-roundtable-at-cloud-field-day-21-activity-7254958756675923973-HErf