Paved Road Defaults Versus Top-Down Mandates
TradeoffStaffPrincipalUpdated
You're moving 40 teams to a new observability stack that cuts logging costs in half. The old stack still works, and every team is mid-roadmap.
Short answer: Paved Road Defaults. Make the new stack the default in service templates and do the migration work for teams, so adopting it is easier than staying put.
The Two Options
A
Paved Road Defaults
B
Top-Down Mandates
Drill This: Your Pick First
The Better Pick
Option A
Paved Road Defaults
Make the new stack the default in service templates and do the migration work for teams, so adopting it is easier than staying put. Mandates on working systems produce resentment, exceptions, and half-finished migrations while teams protect their roadmaps. Track adoption, and save a hard deadline for the last few holdouts once most teams have moved.
When the Other One Wins
Top-Down Mandates
When a straggler means a security or compliance failure, such as an audit deadline or a vulnerable library, a mandate with a fixed date is the right call.