# Well-Architected Review readiness checklist

Complete **before** scheduling a partner-led or self-service WA Review. Incomplete
architecture diagrams and missing cost baselines add **2–4 weeks** to review cycles.

> Reflects **July 2026** AWS Well-Architected Tool: Lens Catalog (SaaS, Serverless, ML),
> custom lenses, profiles, review templates, org-wide sharing, GovCloud (US) availability.

## Stage 0 — Workload definition (required)

- [ ] Named workload with **owner email** and **environment** (pre-prod vs prod)
- [ ] List of **AWS account IDs** in scope
- [ ] **Regions** where workload runs
- [ ] One-page architecture diagram (data flow, not logo soup)

**Rollback trigger:** Cannot name the workload owner → stop; reviews without ownership fail remediation.

## Stage 1 — Self-assessment (1–2 days)

- [ ] Create workload in **AWS Well-Architected Tool** console
- [ ] Apply relevant **Lens** (SaaS, Serverless, or ML if applicable)
- [ ] Answer all **High Risk** questions first (tool surfaces these)
- [ ] Export **Improvement Plan** CSV

## Stage 2 — Evidence pack (before partner review)

- [ ] CloudTrail org trail enabled **≥ 90 days**
- [ ] Security Hub score trend (or Config conformance pack report)
- [ ] Cost Explorer **30-day** breakdown by service
- [ ] Last incident postmortem (if any) — Reliability pillar
- [ ] RTO/RPO documented — Reliability pillar

## Stage 3 — Review session

- [ ] 90-minute block with **architect + one engineer** who can answer ops questions
- [ ] Milestone created **before** session (baseline snapshot)
- [ ] HRI list prioritized: **≤ 5** items for 90-day plan (not 40)

## Stage 4 — Post-review (90 days)

- [ ] Assign owner per HRI
- [ ] Re-run review or update milestone when **≥ 3** HRIs closed
- [ ] Annual review for production workloads (quarterly if regulated)

## When NOT to run a WA Review yet

| Situation | Wait until |
|-----------|------------|
| Workload still migrating (lift-and-shift week 2) | Steady-state **30 days** post-cutover |
| No production traffic | First **1k** users or first paying customer |
| "We need SOC 2 next month" | WA Review ≠ audit — run parallel tracks |

## Related posts

- [Well-Architected 6 pillars](/blog/aws-well-architected-framework-6-pillars-explained/)
- [CAF practice map](/blog/aws-cloud-adoption-framework-practice-map-well-architected/)
- [Architecture review service](/services/aws-architecture-review/)