Eventually, though, it became clear that many, if not most, of the problems we see arising during real-world transformations have little to do with the technology itself. The tech and tools are concrete—you can wrap your head around infrastructure, even if it’s virtual—as well as fairly well supported. Instead, culture, process, and the other human-centered changes are, we have observed, the most difficult aspect of a transformation. Many migrations stumble, or even fail, by making common mistakes rooted in cognitive bias. Patterns can help them avoid these pitfalls.

Cloud native is more than just a technology or tool set. It is a philosophical approach for building applications that take full advantage of cloud computing. This new paradigm requires not only embracing new technology, but also a new way of working—which makes going cloud native an extensive undertaking. The payoff is immense, but in order to reach it an organization must evolve not just its tech stack but also its culture and processes.