Migrating a 200-server data analytics platform to AWS under a fixed-budget, fixed-term mandate.
Project Management framework for a global financial services enterprise's pilot cloud migration — designed to prove AWS feasibility for a much larger enterprise modernization program. Twelve months. $1.2M fixed budget. Zero tolerance for unscheduled downtime.
An aging footprint, rising risk, and a feasibility window that closes quickly.
The starting position
The client operated a complex legacy infrastructure built through decades of growth and acquisitions — spread across six aging data centers, with roughly 200 servers supporting the internally-facing data analytics platform. Operational overhead was high, technological risk was rising, and the cost base was no longer defensible.
Leadership had committed to a multi-year enterprise modernization. But before signing off on that broader program, they needed proof: a contained migration that demonstrates AWS feasibility, validates the operating model, and produces reusable patterns for the larger effort to follow.
The mandate
Move fast, but don't break the business. The data analytics platform had to keep running during core working hours — every minute of unscheduled downtime translated directly to financial loss and disrupted decision-making across the company.
The project also had to do double duty: deliver the migration and produce the SOPs, architecture decision records, and validated patterns the enterprise would later use to scale the same approach across the remaining infrastructure.
A lift-and-shift, sequenced as ten iterative cycles.
Rather than treating the platform as one monolithic migration, I structured delivery around ten prioritized use cases — each migrated end-to-end inside a 2-week sprint cadence. Risk is localized. Value is demonstrated continuously. The team learns and tightens estimates with every cycle.
The 12-month Gantt: phased setup, parallel use-case streams, hypercare close-out.
Use Case 1 functions as the pathfinder — extended timeline to absorb learning. Subsequent use cases run in parallel pairs to double throughput without doubling cost.
A fixed-rate, fixed-FTE envelope that absorbs scope variance without absorbing margin.
The financial model is deliberately simple: 800 hours per month at a blended rate of $125/hour, totaling exactly $100,000 in monthly burn. Predictable for the client, defensible internally, transparent under audit.
Four risk domains, each with concrete mitigations and a measurable success state.
A two-tier governance model that protects delivery focus and routes escalation cleanly.
Operational decisions stay with the working team. Strategic decisions — scope, budget, escalated risk — route to a defined steering committee on a defined cadence. The structure is deliberately small and the responsibilities are deliberately clear.
What the client receives — and what the enterprise keeps.
The mandate has two layers: deliver the migration and produce the reusable artifacts that enable the broader enterprise rollout. Every output below was designed to outlive this engagement.
The project is the migration. The deliverable is the blueprint. A well-run pilot is the most expensive thing an enterprise can skip — and the cheapest one it can run.