Every AWS migration starts with the same optimism: "We'll move everything in 6 weeks, save 40% on infra, and never think about servers again."
Then reality hits.
I've delivered 50+ AWS migrations over the past 5 years - from 3-person startups on Heroku to 200-person companies running bare metal in colocation. The technology isn't what trips people up. It's the decisions made (or not made) in the first two weeks that determine whether a migration finishes on time or drags on for months.
Here are the patterns I keep seeing.
1. You don't have a migration strategy. You have a vague plan to "move stuff."
