The Growing Importance of Platform Teams
Platform teams have emerged as a crucial component in modern software development, bridging the gap between development and operations, streamlining processes and enhancing productivity. Before becoming essential in modern software development, platform teams were seen as optional support units, mainly focused on maintaining infrastructure and providing basic tools for developers. The cloud adoption, growing software complexity and increased market competition have highlighted the need for streamlined processes and improved developer productivity. Their impact extends far beyond mere technical improvements, influencing organizational culture, product quality and business outcomes. By providing standardized tools, workflows and infrastructure, platform teams enable developers to focus on creating value rather than grappling with operational complexities. This shift not only accelerates development cycles but also fosters innovation and improves the overall quality of software products.
The Evolution and Impact of Platform Teams
Change is difficult but necessary to evolve and progress. One of the most significant impacts of platform teams is their ability to drive cultural change within an organization. By promoting best practices, encouraging collaboration and breaking down silos between departments, platform teams create an environment of continuous improvement and shared responsibility.
This cultural shift often leads to increased job satisfaction among developers. They feel empowered to make decisions and contribute meaningfully to the product’s success.
Beyond Traditional Metrics: Assessing True Impact
Additionally, the standardization introduced by platform teams often results in improved security practices, better compliance with regulations, and more robust disaster recovery processes, all of which contribute to the overall resilience of the organization. By consolidating tools and infrastructure, companies reduce costs and enhance productivity through automation, leading to faster time-to-market for new products. Improved reliability and compliance reduce potential revenue losses from outages or regulatory violations, supporting business growth.
To truly gauge the impact of platform teams, it’s essential to look beyond traditional metrics and consider the broader changes they bring to an organization. One practical exercise for assessing this impact is reflecting on the changes observed over the past six months to a year. For example, at my previous company, Jooble, where I was a Platform Lead, we noticed that implementing platform teams allowed us to release features more quickly and launch more experiments. This led to an increased number of successful A/B tests that directly improved our core product metrics.
Driving Cultural Change and Improving Job Satisfaction
The true measure of impact lies in how the platform team affects product outcomes and whether people recognize this impact. In my experience, when we started building solutions that engineers and stakeholders truly wanted, they often expressed their gratitude directly.
I observed this in our platform Slack channel where we improved the release process, and engineers spontaneously posted thank-you messages that received reactions from other team members. Stakeholders also approached us to express their appreciation.
Enhancing Business Outcomes: Standardization, Security and Compliance
These genuine expressions of gratitude are powerful indicators of the positive impact platform teams can have on an organization. They reflect not just technical improvements, but also enhanced job satisfaction, better collaboration, and a sense of shared purpose across the organization.
The impact of platform teams goes beyond quantifiable metrics – it transforms the way teams work together, innovate and deliver value to customers.
Key Factors for a Thriving Platform Team
While measuring the impact of platform teams is crucial, it’s equally important to focus on the happiness and well-being of the platform team members themselves. Through my experience, I’ve identified five key points that significantly contribute to a thriving platform team:
Passion for problem-solving: Identify engineers who are excited about creating solutions for other engineers. For example, I once worked with an engineer who was passionate about new tooling industry trends and eagerly introduced them to our platform. These engineers are invaluable, as they drive innovation and enthusiasm within the team.
Commitment to the roadmap: Ensure team members understand and see value in platform goals. This involves clear communication of the “why” behind each initiative and how it aligns with the overall vision. When engineers grasp the importance of their work, they’re more likely to remain engaged.
Empowerment and resources: Provide the necessary tools, budget and authority for the team to excel. This might include investing in development tools, allocating a budget for training, or giving the team autonomy to make important decisions about the platform’s architecture.
Fostering collaboration: Encourage communication and create opportunities for cross-functional teamwork, such as pairing engineers with different strengths. In my experience, bringing together an innovation-driven engineer with one with strong product knowledge led to creating truly robust features.
Psychological safety: Create an environment where team members feel safe expressing ideas, experimenting, and even failing. This involves actively encouraging diverse viewpoints, celebrating both successes and learnings from failures, and ensuring that all team members feel their contributions are valued.
Listening for Impact: The Role of Empathetic Leadership
The foundation of understanding and improving these aspects lies in one critical skill: Listening. As my professional coaching training taught me, truly listening – not just hearing – is crucial. It’s about understanding everyone’s perspective and connecting intuitively to the real message, including what’s not being said.
This level of listening, often referred to as “Level 3” or intuitive listening, involves paying attention to all sensory components: The speaker’s tone of voice, energy level, feelings and even the silences between words. By practicing this deep, empathetic listening, leaders can create a profound connection with their team members, uncovering motivations, concerns, and ideas that might otherwise remain hidden. This approach not only enhances team happiness but also unlocks the full potential of the platform team, leading to more innovative solutions and stronger collaboration.