Struggling to convey cloud computing performance problems to non-technical stakeholders?

Here are some of my recommendations - Focus on the impact on their business outcomes rather than technical details. Describe how slower application response times or downtime can affect customer experience, revenue generation, or operational efficiency. Use analogies or comparisons to familiar concepts. Provide straightforward metrics on how these issues translate into tangible business impacts, such as reduced sales or increased customer complaints. Emphasize the importance of addressing these performance problems swiftly to maintain business continuity and competitive edge.

Imagine you're managing a large warehouse. The warehouse has workers (CPUs) who pack and ship orders. The faster they work, the quicker orders go out. Now, picture the roads leading to and from the warehouse. If there are many lanes (high bandwidth), trucks (data) can travel quickly without traffic jams. But if the roads are narrow (low bandwidth), deliveries slow down. Also, consider how often trucks can load and unload (IOPS). If they can do this quickly, more orders get processed. So, more workers, wider roads, and faster loading/unloading mean your warehouse operates smoothly and efficiently, just like a well-optimized cloud system.

Concentrate on how slower application response times or downtime influence business results instead of focusing on technical specifics. Use analogies to explain the terms, that is helpful to explain the pointers more clearly to business oriented members.

Imagine presenting your warehouse operations to stakeholders. You show a chart with worker efficiency over time, highlighting peak productivity and slowdowns. Next, a diagram of the warehouse layout illustrates where most orders are processed smoothly and where bottlenecks occur. Then, a graph comparing different road widths shows how more lanes lead to faster deliveries. Finally, a flowchart of the loading/unloading process reveals points of delay. These visuals make it clear where improvements are needed, turning complex data into understandable insights, much like visualizing cloud performance to identify and resolve issues.

Consider an online retail store during Black Friday. Last year, their website slowed down because it couldn't handle the surge in traffic, leading to frustrated customers and abandoned carts. Sales plummeted, and competitors scooped up those customers. Sharing this story with stakeholders highlights the real-world impact: lost revenue and damaged reputation. By connecting this to potential cloud performance issues, you emphasize the urgency of addressing bottlenecks. This motivates stakeholders to invest in robust cloud solutions, ensuring the business can handle peak demand smoothly and avoid similar setbacks.

One of the strategies I use is to draw analogies to the problem using examples from areas that are familiar to non-technical stakeholders.

As a DevOps engineer, translating technical metrics into business-relevant outcomes is crucial for gaining stakeholder buy-in and demonstrating the value of our work.

Imagine a popular e-commerce site experiencing frequent server downtimes. Instead of saying "server uptime," explain how each hour of downtime means customers can't make purchases, leading to lost sales. For instance, during a recent two-hour outage, the site lost $50,000 in potential sales and saw a spike in customer complaints, damaging brand trust. By translating technical metrics like uptime into business terms—lost revenue and customer dissatisfaction—stakeholders clearly see how cloud performance impacts user experience and business success. This helps them understand the importance of investing in reliable cloud solutions.

Avoid taking a reactive approach. Instead, during the planning and design phases, consult Business / Product teams and define the desired target KPIs for the applications that will be migrated to Cloud. Include Cloud Service Providers and Enterprise architecture team in these discussions to cover SRE portion as well. Make sure that the details are captured in Transformation strategy and signed. During execution, include Performance testing phase that can cover these aspects (Application and underlying Platform infrastructure) and validate the output.

In a growing online fashion retailer, cloud performance issues were slowing order processing. Instead of a top-down fix, the IT team invited marketing, sales, and customer service stakeholders to a brainstorming session. They shared how delays impacted their areas—sales highlighted lost revenue, marketing pointed out missed campaign opportunities, and customer service reported increased complaints. Collaboratively, they identified key pain points and brainstormed solutions. This approach fostered a sense of ownership and urgency, as each department saw the direct impact of cloud performance and contributed to the resolution strategy.

When you include non-technical stakeholders in the decision-making process, they become empowered by the initiatives and solutions.

As a DevOps Engineer, I completely agree with adopting a collaborative approach to tackle cloud performance issues. Involving stakeholders from various departments can provide valuable insights into how these issues might impact different areas of the business

Through awareness campaigns, you can gradually get non-technical people to understand the importance of cloud computing and the terms. Don't put non-technical people in a classroom for 4 hours. They will end up hating us 🤣.

Let non-technical stakeholders know that most solutions to the current problem will require some additional investment. Typically, the solution to performance problems is to increase the SKU of resources you have in the cloud.