Post-launch reviews: capturing expectations before the release ships
Comparing actual cloud usage to memory is unreliable. Write the expected usage story down while the release plan is still fresh.
After a release, teams often remember the goal (“faster pages”, “more video”) but not the usage assumptions that sat underneath. Was object storage expected to rise twenty percent or double? Did you anticipate a regional spike?
A post-launch usage review works when those assumptions exist in writing. Capture them in a short workshop before deploy: journeys affected, cloud services involved, and rough expected movement.
Thirty to sixty days later, compare extracts to that record. Surprises become specific — “edge transfer rose, database did not” — instead of a vague sense that “cloud costs feel high.”
If the release already shipped without a written baseline, you can still review trends, but treat conclusions as directional rather than definitive.