Here's how you can navigate a failed cloud computing project.

Learn from Failure ⛅️🔍 - 📊 Analyze the Failure: Identify root causes and areas for improvement. - 🤝 Communicate with Stakeholders: Transparently share lessons learned. - 💡 Explore New Approaches: Research and adopt innovative cloud solutions. - 📈 Develop Contingency Plans: Prepare for potential future failures. - 🤝 Foster a Culture of Resilience: Encourage experimentation and learning. - 🔍 Apply New Knowledge: Implement changes and improvements to cloud strategy.

There are two types of failed projects and it’s important to differentiate. 1) Is it your project and your & your team failure? - in this case, use it as learning experience, analyse deeply and fix it (if it’s fixable) if not then it depends what was failure and if client will still pay or you also lost payments? And even if they will pay what other damage (e.g. reputation, loss of future business) has been done?, 2) You took-over someone else disaster - analyse very deeply what when wrong and manage customer expectations, because last thing you want (when you called as “firefighter”) end up in same sh*t as your predecessor. Sometimes failure is entirely because client has different expectations than what was realistic

When a cloud project fails, start by thoroughly assessing the damage. Look beyond technical issues to understand the broader impacts on business operations, finances, and reputation. Identify what went wrong, which resources are affected, and their criticality to the organization. This holistic assessment reveals the severity of the failure and guides the prioritization of recovery efforts. Evaluating the impact on all fronts ensures that your response addresses immediate technical fixes and long-term business continuity and stakeholder trust. This comprehensive approach is vital for an effective recovery strategy.

Any fail project requires organization to follow: 1. Start retrospecting the project. - What didn't go well - How much damage was done - What could be root cause of failure - What could have been done differently to avoid failure - Did we deliver what customer wanted 2. Once org identify the "What" part, it's time to start developing recover strategy - Continuous feedback - MVP, frequent demos of functionality provided - Customer empathy 3. Below are the key to get the success to fail project - implemention - Transparency to stakeholders about current project status - inspection: keep inspecting the project goals - adaption: if there is any deviation found, learn it, make adjustment to minimize it.

Once the damage is assessed, perform a root cause analysis to understand why the cloud project failed. For example, imagine a retail company migrating its e-commerce platform to the cloud. The project fails due to a surge in traffic during a sale, causing a system crash. Dissect the failure: perhaps the auto-scaling feature wasn't properly configured, leading to insufficient resources. Investigate process breakdowns—maybe there were gaps in load testing or lapses in communication between the IT and operations teams. By pinpointing these issues, like improper configuration and inadequate testing, you can develop strategies, such as improved communication protocols and thorough testing, to prevent future failures.

With root causes identified, formulate a recovery plan. For instance, a financial firm faces a cloud service outage due to a database misconfiguration, impacting transaction processing. The plan should outline steps to restore services: reconfigure the database, conduct data integrity checks, and validate system functionality. If transitioning to an alternative solution is necessary, detail the migration process to a more reliable platform. Consider time, budget, and resources: allocate staff for round-the-clock repairs and ensure budget flexibility for unforeseen expenses. Include data recovery protocols and thorough testing to ensure the new setup meets all requirements, minimizing future risks.

Keeping stakeholders informed during a crisis is crucial. Consider a healthcare provider facing a cloud outage that disrupts patient record access. Communicate the situation's status to doctors, patients, and admin staff: explain the issue, steps taken to address it, and impacts on service availability. Transparency is key; regular updates via email and internal portals build trust and ease concerns. For example, "We're resolving a data access issue; patient records will be fully restored within 24 hours. Temporary access to critical records is now available." Clear, concise, and frequent updates ensure everyone stays aligned on recovery progress, mitigating frustration and panic.

With a solid plan and stakeholder buy-in, begin implementing changes. For instance, a media streaming service experiences frequent downtime due to server overloads. Deploy patches to fix immediate issues, revise the cloud architecture to incorporate better load balancing, and enhance security to protect against DDoS attacks. Monitor these changes closely: use real-time analytics to track system performance and user experience. Adjust your approach as needed; if the load balancing isn't effective, tweak the algorithm or add more servers. Continuous monitoring ensures the changes are effective and allows for timely adjustments to maintain service reliability.

Keep a written record of lessons learnt and adjustments made. This documentation can serve as a valuable resource for future projects and new team members. Share your experiences and the best practices derived from them with other teams or in your industry. This encourages collaboration and learning within the community.

Strengthen cloud strategy: Emphasizes using insights to improve overall approach. New policies, tools, and training: Mentions specific ways to implement learnings. Refine your approach: Concludes by emphasizing growth and improvement from the experience.