Kubernetes maturity is not something that an organization achieves overnight. It is a time-consuming process and requires your tech teams to revisit previous phases even after reaching a particular phase. This approach will help you identify areas you need to pay attention or get external help.
Phase 1 : Prepare to be future proof with Cloud Native
Your cloud-native and K8s adoption journey begins here. The phase is all about getting prepared as a team before you embark on the journey of digital transformation.
Understand the value cloud-native, containers and Kubernetes will bring to your business
Define the business objectives the organization wants to achieve leveraging the technology
Develop trust in new technologies and accept that the process will require heavy investment both in terms of time and money
Determine the associated costs
This phase revolves around setting up Kubernetes infrastructure and shifting workloads.
Undertake activities like initial migration, containerizing applications and deploying first clusters. This will also help you verify your foundational knowledge.
Shift existing workloads to Kubernetes
At this stage, you must become well-versed with Kubernetes terminology
Phase 3 : Deploy
Once a team gets to phase 3, they become comfortable with the fundamentals by getting over the steep learning curve.
The team builds on the strong foundation to deploy Kubernetes across your organization
CI/CD pipeline is put into action
Exercise basic build, deployment and troubleshooting process
Introduce limited monitoring
Phase 4 : Build Confidences inK8s
Phase 4 is about building confidence and understanding the nuances of Kubernetes.
Team successfully deploys and ships features
Implement standards around Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and configuration
Develop confidence in Kubernetes clusters through experience, expert training, managed services, audits, validation, etc.
Monitor and identify service challenges
Add-ons are selected confidently
Team may encounter challenges while deploying and managing tools
Phase 5 : Improve Operations
Reaching phase 5, your team deploys Kubernetes successfully across different business verticals.
By improving operations, team achieves a significant milestone in terms of Kubernetes maturity
Focus is on improving security, efficiency and reliability of Kubernetes clusters
Team is in a position to focus on core business functionalities like developing applications rather than just maintaining Kubernetes
Phase 6 : Measure & Control
In this phase of Kubernetes maturity, team introduces sophisticated monitoring and measurement to gain a deeper understanding of workloads and environments.
Assert stronger opinions around K8s clusters, security, configuration and the overall environment
Team is equipped to handle technical debt from previous phases
Strengthen CI/CD driven processes and infrastructure as code
Gain a better understanding of how to track and control your Kubernetes by collecting and processing more data, insights and tooling
Phase 7 : Optimize and Automate
Congratulations, you have reached a huge milestone as team. In the last phase, you employ sophisticated tooling and techniques to remove human error, improve reliability and maximize efficiency.
Measure and track K8s deployment to ensure it is fulfilling your business objectives
Protocols, policies and procedures are established for the team to consistently meet business requirements
Team gains better understanding of infrastructure as code
The maturity model can be used as a tool to help your team in the journey to Kubernetes maturity and cloud-native adoption.
