When the Cloud Rolls In: Practical Steps for Sanity During a Lift & Shift

Imagine a team of brilliant individuals, including engineers, analysts, and leaders, embarking on the journey of moving their data operations to the cloud. This transition is not just about technology; it's about the people who make it happen.

What could go wrong?

Everything.

Not technically (well, sometimes technically), but emotionally. The people part of the lift and shift is where things get wild.

We've seen it: one group clings to the old data farm as if it were a beloved family pet. Another insists this is "progress" and anyone who disagrees "just doesn't get it." Suddenly, folks who used to eat lunch together are side-eyeing each other over dashboards and definitions of “done.”

Welcome to the weather front known as The Cloud Migration Storm.

The Real Forecast: 80% Human, 20% Technical

Here’s the truth: data doesn’t care where it lives. But people do.

Moving from a physical data center to the cloud doesn't only change where things happen; for some, it changes how people feel about their work, their control, and sometimes their worth.

When logic fails to explain behavior (and it will), that’s your signal that invisible storms—thoughts, assumptions, and imagined disasters—are running the show. The louder the storm, the more practical you need to get.

Indeed, practical steps serve as an umbrella that can shield your team from the emotional storms of cloud migration.

Step One: Call a Working Session, Not a Meeting

Meetings are where progress goes to take a nap.

Working sessions, however, are practical in getting things done.

We’ve seen teams transform simply by switching from “status meetings” to “roll up your sleeves” working sessions.

People calm down when they see movement. Give them space to solve problems together instead of narrating what went wrong last week.

Pro tip: end each session with a 10-minute “What’s clearer now?” moment.

It resets the tone and reminds everyone that clarity, not perfection, is the goal.

Step Two: Remove 10% of Meetings (Yes, Really)

During one project, we canceled recurring meetings for a month.

The result? Productivity went up, tempers went down, and one manager reported "spontaneous laughter" in a status report—which, let's be honest, is the real KPI of progress.

Removing just a few unnecessary meetings signals trust and gives the team time to think, not just react, resulting in a more relaxed and optimistic atmosphere.

Step Three: Make Space for Adjustment

In a lift-and-shift approach, the "shift" is often internal.

People are not machines—they need time to reorient, test, and feel their way through a new normal.

Allowing space for adjustment is not inefficiency; it's a recognition of the intelligence and value of your team.

When leaders allow accommodations—such as extra learning time, flexible deadlines, or paired testing—they discover that resistance wasn't laziness; it was uncertainty in disguise.

Remove the fear of getting it wrong, and you'll watch people surprise you with how quickly they can get it right.

Step Four: Stay Neutral When Things Get Weird

There will be days when someone says, “This new platform is ruining my life,” and another replies, “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

Neither is wrong—they're just describing different weather patterns.

Staying neutral doesn't mean being indifferent; it means maintaining a balanced perspective. It means listening long enough for the noise to pass before you decide what's real and what's just a passing cloud.

Calm is contagious. And in change work, calm beats clever every time.

The Punchline

Every technical migration is secretly a human one.

The difference between chaos and clarity isn't the code—it's the consciousness of the people running it.

Practical steps—such as working sessions, meeting hygiene, time for reflection, and maintaining calm neutrality—are not "soft skills." They're the infrastructure of resilience.

And when the team remembers that everyone's just doing their best to navigate the storm, the cloud stops being so heavy after all.

At JASC Associates, we don’t just move systems—we move people through change with humor, grace, and practical steps that work.

If your team is gearing up for a lift and shift (or just trying to survive one), give yourself—and your people—the gift of calm, clarity, and collaboration.

That's how you turn storm clouds into momentum.