This article covers best practices for conducting the Review phase of AWS Well-Architected Framework Reviews (WAFR), the second of three phases.

• Set clear expectations with stakeholders about time commitment and roles
• Approach reviews as conversations, not audits or scoring exercises
• Make it a team sport with pillar sponsors owning improvement plans
• Conduct reviews regularly, not as one-time efforts
• Review earlier in design phase rather than after production deployment
• Use AWS Well-Architected Tool to track questions, notes, and milestones
• Create custom lenses for organization-specific governance needs
• Document why best practices are or aren't implemented
• Keep reviews concise, completed in hours not days
• Treat uncertain best practices as not implemented
• Automate and scale review processes for large organizations

The review phase identifies High-Risk and Medium-Risk Issues by comparing current architecture against AWS best practices, forming the basis for improvement planning in phase three.