Cloud Adoption Framework and the 6 Perspectives
Learn the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) and its six perspectives, the structured guidance for planning a successful cloud migration.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Explain the purpose of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework.
- Name all six AWS CAF perspectives.
- Describe who each perspective is aimed at and what it covers.
- Distinguish CAF perspectives from Well-Architected pillars.
What Is the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework?
The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) provides structured guidance to help organizations plan and execute their cloud migration. It organizes the work of cloud adoption into six perspectives, each covering a different area of responsibility.
Think of it this way: migrating to the cloud is not just a technology project. It affects business strategy, people, governance, security, and day-to-day operations. The CAF makes sure you don't forget any of those dimensions.
Key distinction
The CAF is about organizational readiness for cloud adoption. The Well-Architected Framework is about building good architectures once you're in the cloud. Don't confuse them.
The 6 CAF Perspectives
1. Business
Who: Business managers, finance managers, budget owners, strategy stakeholders.
Focus: Ensure that cloud investments accelerate digital transformation ambitions and business outcomes. Align IT strategy with business goals.
Key question: "How does moving to the cloud help the business?"
2. People
Who: HR, staffing managers, people managers.
Focus: Organizational change management, training, skills development, and evolving roles. Build a cloud-fluent culture and bridge the skills gap.
Key question: "Do our people have the skills and readiness for cloud?"
3. Governance
Who: CIO, program managers, enterprise architects, business analysts.
Focus: Align IT strategy with business strategy while minimizing risk. Manage budgets, portfolios, and compliance in the cloud.
Key question: "How do we manage risk, budgets, and compliance in the cloud?"
4. Platform
Who: CTO, IT managers, solutions architects.
Focus: Build an enterprise-grade, scalable, hybrid cloud platform. Modernize existing workloads and implement new cloud-native solutions.
Key question: "What is our target cloud architecture and how do we build it?"
5. Security
Who: CISO, security architects, compliance managers.
Focus: Achieve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and cloud workloads. Ensure security controls meet organizational and regulatory requirements.
Key question: "How do we protect our data and workloads in the cloud?"
6. Operations
Who: IT operations managers, site reliability engineers.
Focus: Deliver cloud services that meet the needs of the business on a day-to-day basis. Ensure cloud services are operated, managed, and supported effectively.
Key question: "How do we run and support cloud workloads day-to-day?"
Perspective Summary Table
| Perspective | Aimed at | One-liner |
|---|---|---|
| Business | Executives, finance | Cloud investments drive business outcomes |
| People | HR, people managers | Skills, culture, and change management |
| Governance | CIO, program managers | Risk, budgets, and compliance |
| Platform | CTO, architects | Target architecture and modernization |
| Security | CISO, security team | Protect data and meet compliance |
| Operations | IT ops, SREs | Run and support cloud workloads daily |
Memory aid
The six perspectives spell out loosely as: B-P-G-P-S-O (Business, People, Governance, Platform, Security, Operations). Think of the first three as business-focused (why, who, rules) and the last three as technical (how, protect, run).
CAF vs. Well-Architected: Don't Confuse Them
| Cloud Adoption Framework | Well-Architected Framework | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Plan and execute cloud migration | Evaluate and improve cloud architectures |
| Organized into | 6 perspectives | 6 pillars |
| When you use it | Before and during migration | After workloads are in the cloud |
| Overlap | "Security" appears in both | "Security" appears in both |
These two frameworks are easy to confuse. If a scenario mentions "migration planning" or "organizational readiness," think CAF. If it mentions "architectural best practices" or "workload review," think Well-Architected.
Micro-activity: Match the CAF Perspective
Match each CAF perspective to its focus
Examples
Choose one, then match it on the right
Characteristics
Select an example first
0 of 6 matched so far.
Summary
The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework provides six perspectives that cover every dimension of a successful cloud migration, from business strategy to daily operations. Know each perspective by name, who it's aimed at, and its one-sentence purpose. And remember: CAF = migration planning, Well-Architected = architecture quality.