The document discusses the challenges faced when attempting to transition a monolithic application to microservices. An initial attempt to extract a single service failed due to lost test coverage, scope creep and increased complexity. Lessons were learned around the need for rapid provisioning, monitoring, deployment and automated testing. A reset was implemented with time-boxed phases, infrastructure as code using Docker, and deployment automation. This successful approach focused on stabilizing the team through an emphasis on culture, structure and technology alignment to deliver reliably on time and budget.