Hello Reader—
One Thursday, I walked into a boardroom full of panicked executives.
"Steve, we're 18 months into our Kubernetes migration. £3M over budget. Zero apps in production. The board wants to kill it."
Sound familiar?
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Their migration was dead 12 months ago. They just didn't know it yet.
After rescuing 50+ enterprise migrations, I've discovered that most fail in the first 90 days. Not because of technology - but because teams adopt K8s for the wrong reasons.
THE MIGRATION TRIAGE MATRIX™
When I diagnose a failing migration, I look at three levels:
LEVEL 1: TECHNICAL FOUNDATIONS
- Are you containerizing with purpose or just following trends?
- Is K8s solving real problems or creating new ones?
- Can you actually see what's happening in your cluster?
LEVEL 2: TEAM DYNAMICS
- Where is your team struggling silently?
- Are devs and ops actually collaborating?
- Who's secretly hoping this fails?
LEVEL 3: BUSINESS ALIGNMENT
- Can you prove ROI in business terms?
- Do executives understand the journey?
- Is "working Kubernetes" your only goal?
Red Flag Test: Count how many of these questions you can't answer confidently. More than 3? Your migration is already in trouble.
THIS WEEK'S PLATFORM PSYCHOLOGY INSIGHT
Based on your responses this week, the #1 fear was: "Developers hate our platform."
Here's why this happens:
Platform teams suffer from what I call "The Hero Complex." They try to "save" developers with elaborate abstractions and "perfect" solutions.
But developers don't want to be saved. They want to ship features.
The fix? Start with developer experience, not technical elegance. Ask: "Would I want to use this?" If you hesitate, you have your answer.
One client reduced their abstraction layers from 7 to 2. Result? 80% voluntary adoption in 60 days.
QUICK WIN: STOP THE BLEEDING IN ONE WEEK
Pick ONE thing to do next week:
- Cancel all new K8s features for 7 days Focus only on what's already breaking
- Talk to 5 developers who AREN'T using your platform Ask why. Listen. Don't defend.
- Measure one business metric Deploy time, cost per service, or uptime. Not pod count.
- Remove one layer of complexity Find your most over-engineered component. Simplify it.
- Document one decision Write down WHY you made a technical choice. Share it.
One client did #4 and saved £50K/month by removing an unnecessary service mesh.
ARE YOU ACTUALLY READY FOR KUBERNETES?
Here's the truth: 70% of teams shouldn't be using K8s at all.
They adopt it because:
- "Everyone else is doing it"
- "It's the future"
- "We need to modernize"
But without the right foundations, K8s becomes a £300K+ mistake.
I've created a 5-Minute Kubernetes Reality Check based on patterns from 50+ migrations. It tells you:
- If you actually need K8s (many don't)
- Your readiness score (0-10)
- Exactly what to focus on first
- Whether you need help NOW
[Take the 5-Minute K8s Reality Check]
Warning: This test is brutally honest. But it's better to know now than at 3am.
GOT YOUR SCORE? LET'S TALK
Once you've taken the Reality Check, I offer 15-minute Score Reviews for £97.
I'll:
- Explain what your score really means
- Identify your biggest migration risk
- Give you ONE action to take immediately
- Tell you honestly if K8s is right for you
Limited to 10 reviews this month.
[Book Your Reality Check Review - £97]
WHAT'S COMING NEXT WEEK
Issue #002: "The £2M Service Mesh Nobody Needed"
- Why teams over-engineer solutions
- The simplicity test that saves millions
- Your 5-minute architecture review
P.S. What was your Reality Check score? Reply and tell me - I'm tracking patterns across organizations. Scoring 0-3? That might actually be good news!
The 3am Call is published every Thursday. Created for platform engineering leaders who are tired of midnight emergencies.