Migrating Workload to Cloud - How to avoid the pitfalls

After analyzing Cloud migration projects over the last few years, I noticed some patterns. Here are the Best Practices of successful migrations. This covers both SoftLayer as well as the IBM Cloud Managed Services.

Successful Migrations:

• Use documentation and training material before starting the project
  Good resources are the ThoughsOnCloud blog. Or find out that there is a great offer from Racemi and IBM to accelerate Cloud adoption.
• Understand the target Cloud system capabilities and standards in detail
  For example, get to know what Operating System and what versions and fixpacks are supported on the target Cloud. Do they match with the systems currently running the workload? Is there an additional release upgrade step required?
• Analyze the source workload and match it for fit on the target Cloud
  The Migration feature for IBM Cloud Managed Service includes a tool based method that can be run on the source system or a offline copy and includes over 450 checks to determine which adjustment would need to be performed for a migration.
• Plan a Proof Of Concept of initial "Wave 0
  During the actual migration window when productive workload is to be cut over, time is of the essence. To have a more relaxed opportunity to rehearse and validate, successful teams plan an initial migration of less critical workload and include a buffer.
• Document Roles and Responsibilities
  Migration project often employ specialised transition and transformation personnel. Also the target Cloud environment might be new and therefore not well known. To avoid misunderstanding, hand-over gaps and loss of time for problem solving it is important to understand R&R. This helps each performer to know where to reach out to if questions or issues arise.   
• Train migration engineers before the migration window.
  Or better yet, work with a team that has done it before. IBM Cloud Managed Services offers a standardized, partially automated processes in a globally delivered factory model to help complete workload migration and deployment.

Have you done successful migrations to Cloud? Tell us about it. What where your lessons learned?