Technology · Infrastructure
Before it breaks
The Infrastructure Survey is an outside read of your running system. It hands back a ranked list of what would give way first, with the evidence taken from the system itself.
What it is
The Infrastructure Survey is a read of your running system by someone who did not build it: where it lives, who can deploy a change today and whether a backup has ever been restored. We pull the evidence from the system directly. It ends with a written opinion and a ranked list of what would break first, ordered by how cheap each is to fix against what it would cost if it broke.
What you receive
- 01
Current state, verified
We read what is running today: where it lives, who besides you can deploy a change to production and whether the setup could be explained to a stranger in five minutes. If the answer to who can deploy is "just me", that is a finding, not a failing.
- 02
Traffic and growth readiness
We compare what the system handles today, tested, against what the business expects in the next six to twelve months. The gap between the two numbers usually matters more than either number.
- 03
Backup posture, tested
We check whether a restore has ever been tried and how old the most recent good copy is. An untested backup does not count as a backup. Of everything on this Survey, it is usually the cheapest finding to fix for what it protects.
- 04
Security posture
We read who has access to production, how they log in and whether the system already shows signs of unwanted attention. Every system on the open internet is being probed by strangers, whether or not anyone has read the logs.
- 05
Single points of failure
We name the one person, server, vendor account or password that would stop the product if it disappeared today. Where there is more than one, we name all of them, ranked by how likely each is to happen.
The Survey ends with a written read handed to you directly. If an Infrastructure Blueprint is warranted, the read says so.
What it needs from you
- Read access to the running system: the console, the repository, and the deployment path
- An hour with whoever currently holds the keys to production
- A single point of contact who can get us the right access quickly
- Time on the calendar for the work to run, agreed before it starts
How it ends
The Infrastructure Survey ends with a written read and a ranked list of what would give way first. You keep both whatever you decide. If a Blueprint is warranted, the read names the gap it would close.
Where it fits
The Infrastructure Survey is the Survey for the Infrastructure lane in Technology. It comes before the Infrastructure Blueprint. See the three stages for the full sequence.
Where to go from here
One hour of your time, no charge: fifteen minutes on the Growth Check, then a forty-five-minute video call. We read every answer before the call.