Before moving a workload, know why it is moving: agility, an expiring data center, a product that cannot scale, or a platform team that can no longer hire for the old estate. The why determines whether rehosting is enough or whether the application has to change.
Inventory applications, data, integrations and the operational skills you actually have. Design identity, networking and landing zones before the first production cutover. Decide what “done” means for security, backup, cost and observability — not only for the virtual machines that have been copied.
Run a slice. Measure. Then sequence the rest. A checklist is not a substitute for architecture, but it will stop the most common omissions: identity, secrets, logging, rollback, and the people who have to run the system on Monday morning.
