Platform Engineering gained a foothold in the DevOps community because it solves:
- Cognitive overload
- Complexity
- Burnout
Gartner put Platform Engineering in its ‘Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2023’.
You can use our decision flow to get a positive result from Platform Engineering. The guide ensures you have the foundations to create a team to build an internal developer platform (IDP). We provide alternative ideas when there are better solutions than Platform Engineering.
This will help you avoid common Platform Engineering anti-patterns.
Platform Engineering helps you scale
The quick check for Platform Engineering is to look for signs of scaling pain. An internal development platform (IDP) is an option if you see these 4 signals:
- You increased the number of developers and development teams
- The developers are responsible for building and running their software
- There’s a high level of operational complexity
- Developers become overloaded and can’t spend enough time on feature development
Every team is different. Complexity and overload depend on the skills and experience available to each team. Some teams will easily follow the ‘you build it, you run it’ pattern, while others will struggle.
If you found the signs of scaling pain, proceed to the Platform Engineering decision flow.
When you should use Platform Engineering
The right foundations will help you succeed with Platform Engineering. A DevOps approach is crucial. You need metrics to ensure the IDP is helping, not hindering, your development teams. You need to show developers the value of the platform. You must also convince stakeholders to continue their investment.
In Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes a model for work satisfaction. The model needs a balance between opportunity and capability. You get bored or anxious when you can’t use your skills, but a challenge that exceeds your skill level can cause worry or anxiety.
When the balance is correct, you achieve a flow state.
Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with a person’s capacity to act. - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
By introducing an IDP, you impact the challenges developers face.
You create a more successful IDP if you understand this balance.