Well-Architected Recommendation Process Guidance (Preview)

Overview

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for incorporating the recommendations generated by the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Review and Azure Advisor into a new or established operational process for continuous workload improvement.

Assess workload

This first step in the Well-Architected Recommendation Process is to conduct an assessment of your workload. The Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Review tool generates a set of recommendations through a guided assessment based on the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework. This tool also has the ability to pull in Azure Advisor recommendations based on an Azure subscription or resource group. At the end of the assessment, there is an option to export these recommendations into a CSV file that can then be used to incorporate them into the operational process for the workload.

Integrate recommendations

The goal of this stage is to establish a backlog of work items either through a manual or an automated process that is based on the recommendations generated by the assessment. The process and tooling for managing the backlog for your workload should be well-defined based on your cloud operating model.

If you're using a DevOps approach for your operational process, Microsoft has provided tools that will automate the import of the recommendations from the Well-Architected Review exported CSV into a new Azure DevOps or GitHub project within your existing organization.

Download the automated import tool at DevOps Tooling for Well-Architected Recommendation Process.

Triage backlog

Now that the recommendations have been added to the backlog, the workload owners and key stakeholders should prioritize, then triage the recommendations in a weekly standup meeting with the workload team. Next, they assign recommendations to a specific owner, postpone, or dismiss. When assigned to a specific owner, the recommendation should be tracked until resolved and weekly, or monthly reminders are sent to the assignee.

When going through this process, it's recommended to align responsibilities across teams by developing a cross-team matrix that identifies responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed (RACI) parties. Some of the key benefits of this exercise include:

• Assisting teams in charting roles and responsibilities in a consistent manner
• Assisting teams with development of implementation tool kits
• Clarifying individual and departmental roles, and responsibilities
• Identifying accountabilities
• Eliminating misunderstandings and encouraging teamwork
• Reducing duplication of effort
• Establishing consults and informs resulting in better communication

Implement work items

This stage of the process is focused on working through the backlog of recommendations. How you organize this work will depend on your cloud operating model. For example, an Agile-based process would have an emphasis on sprint planning paired with frequent stand ups so that progress can be tracked and reported.

Monitor progress

This stage of the process is to monitor improvements to a workload relative to the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework through each iteration. It's important to establish a baseline based on the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Review and Azure Advisor so that you can track improvements back to key recommendations and metrics.

The Azure Advisor Score is a key metric that is available for tracking and socializing improvements during this continuous process.