Domain 1 of 6 · Chapter 5 of 5

Future Improvements

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Included in this chapter:

  • The improvement loop and the six WAF pillars
  • Reading improvement signals off the platform
  • Cloud-first for new work, the ladder for old work
  • Exam-pattern recognition

Where improvement signals come from

Signal sourceActive Assist / RecommenderGemini Cloud AssistCarbon Footprint
What it producesPer-resource recommendations and insights with estimated impactNatural-language design, troubleshooting, and optimization guidanceGross emissions reporting by project, service, and region
Primary pillars servedCost, security, performance, reliability, manageability, sustainabilityOperational excellence and cost (design and optimize across lifecycle)Sustainability
Best forAn actionable, prioritized backlog of concrete fixesExploratory design help and root-cause-driven optimizationMeasuring emissions so you can target reductions
Output you act onApply or dismiss a specific recommendation (e.g. rightsize a VM)Generated guidance, queries, or IaC you review and applyA metric you reduce via region choice and reclaiming waste

Decision tree

New solution or existing?Cloud-first designCloud Run, GKE, managedBeing decommissioned?NewExistingRetire or retainno modernizationYesRunning fine but costly?vs needs new capabilityNo, keep itActive Assistrightsize, idle, CUDCostlyHow much benefit needed?Needs moreRehostleast, fastReplatformmove, improveRefactorcloud-nativeLowMedHigh
Cheat sheet

Cheat sheet

  • Treat architecture as a continuous loop, not a launch sign-off
  • Use Active Assist to find what to improve next
  • Reach for cost recommenders: idle resources, rightsizing, and CUDs
  • Make sustainability a measured metric with Carbon Footprint and CFE%
  • Default new solutions to cloud-first managed and serverless services
  • Migration paths form an effort-vs-benefit ladder
  • Match the migration verb in the stem to the path
  • Sequence modernization in phases, rehost first then improve
  • Operational excellence ends in continuously improve and innovate
  • Rightsize and autoscale as standing operational practice
  • Reclaim abandoned projects with the unattended project recommender
  • Roll out MIG updates as a canary with two instance templates

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References

  1. Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework Well-Architected
  2. Well-Architected Framework: Cost optimization pillar Well-Architected
  3. Well-Architected Framework: Operational excellence pillar Well-Architected
  4. Active Assist / Recommender overview
  5. Gemini Cloud Assist overview
  6. View Carbon Footprint data
  7. What is Cloud Run
  8. GKE Autopilot overview
  9. Migrate to Google Cloud: Get started Well-Architected