Cloud FinOps, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10. Inform Phase: Where Are You Right Now?

Begin your FinOps practice by asking questions. That’s what the inform phase is all about. As you find answers to those questions, you can start evaluating the state of your cloud. In this chapter, we’ll look at some of the questions you should start with, and we’ll get an aspirational glimpse of what great looks like across some common capabilities. All of that will help you know where to focus when you get to the optimize phase.

As we’ve stated, FinOps isn’t a linear process; it’s a cycle. The visibility you get in the first phase is essential to equip you to enter the next phase. You’ll spend the majority of your time in the inform phase. It’s easy to make costly mistakes if you jump to optimize too quickly. As carpenters have reminded us since the craft of building began, “measure twice, cut once.” Measuring informs you so you can make changes, and then you measure those changes against your operational metrics, and so on. You’ll always circle back around to inform them to check in again on which actions will be beneficial to the business.

Tip

The first question you should try to answer is: “What’s the total cloud spend, its forecast, and its growth rate?” If those numbers are immaterial to the business, it may be time to consider pausing after the most basic reporting is in place. Recall the informed ignoring concept covered in Chapter 2.

Data Is Meaningless Without Context

Of course, finding the data isn’t enough. You ...