Companies increasingly turn to platform engineering to help scale their development teams and increase developer experience for engineer efficiency. But how do platforms work? Who should build them? Is platform engineering overly focused on technology, or is it about people?
In a recent InfoQ virtual panel, Ben Linders asked the above questions, covering how teams build platforms, set others up for success, work with developers who use their platform, measure their progress, and adapt to new challenges.
The panelists were Aviran Mordo, VP of Engineering at Wix; Jemma Hussein Allen, Platform Engineering Technical Lead; Ana Petkovska, Engineering Manager of Developer Experience Group at Nexthink; and Andy Burgin, Principal Platform Engineer at Flutter.
The panelists began by stating that platforms offer more than just automation; they support developer experience. They make it easier to use new technologies and provide integrations. They can also remove dependencies and handoffs for developers, which can lead to productivity gains.
Platforms also help scale organizations by providing uniformity in development methodologies, toolsets, processes, and best practices as they are codified into the platform.
Organizations engage their developers in platform development through education, for instance, by teaching how the platform works behind the scenes. They involve developers using internal open-source approaches and guilds. Support channels and chat-based support are provided for platform usage. Making use of frequent meetings can foster collaboration. Make sure you are getting feedback from developers to enhance the platform.
The panelists cautioned that the loss of freedom for developers and struggles with business priorities are some of the main hurdles in platform adoption. Don’t force developers into using a platform; instead, work closely with them to build something good enough that they will want to use it.
Organizations can use quantitative and qualitative surveys of developers and managers to measure the impact of their platforms. Companies also use adoption metrics and measure the development velocity to see if it improved, as well as metrics from DORA-like deployment frequency and lead time to change.
For effective platform implementation, consider building one unified platform over multiple platforms for the front end and back end. The component-based adoption of platform tooling can support teams in onboarding individual platform components at the best time for the team and project. Involve yourself in the developer toolchain to reduce tool duplication and establish a golden path framework.
This content is an excerpt from a recent InfoQ article by Ben Linders, "Delivering Great Developer Experiences with Platform Engineering".
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