The history of IT is rich with examples of transformative changes. Think back to the introduction of agile methodologies or the rise of DevOps. Early adopters of these approaches did not just keep pace with the competition — they surged ahead, driving greater innovation and achieving faster time to market. Similarly, platform engineering offers a holistic and integrated approach that can enhance an organization’s ability to deliver high-quality software, at scale.
Implementing Platform Engineering
A reluctance to embrace new methodologies can be a significant barrier to progress. It is clear though that the benefits of platform engineering have become too substantial to ignore but knowing the right path to success is not straightforward. Below, I have outlined five essential steps to successfully implement platform engineering in your organization, paving the way for a more efficient, innovative and cohesive future.
Step 1: Automation First: Everything-as-Code
The foundational principle of platform engineering is prioritizing automation in every aspect of your strategy. This can be achieved through the concept of ‘everything-as-code’, which includes infrastructure-as-code (IaC), configuration-as-code (CaC), policy-as-code and even pipeline-as-code.
By codifying infrastructure, configurations and policies, businesses ensure consistency, repeatability and speed in their operations.
This approach not only minimizes human error but also allows for rapid provisioning and deployment, enabling teams to focus on innovation and simplifying the process of scaling and extending. This standardization is to software development what the production line was for physical manufacturing. IaC delivers consistent infrastructure for teams, while CaC and PaC make software scalable and transferable to different environments that are configured with the same codebase.
This scalability and transferability are critical for businesses trying to expand. Without this standardization, the complexity of the code base can spiral until it becomes ‘spaghetti code’, which is too difficult to track and build upon without unforeseen consequences.
By automating infrastructure, configuration and policy, it becomes easier to untangle issues and integrate a DevOps approach to coding — continuously developing, testing and deploying.
Step 2: Bring in an Easy-to-Use Self-Service Portal
A user-friendly self-service portal is crucial in empowering teams to manage resources autonomously, thereby reducing bottlenecks and accelerating development cycles. An intuitive portal enables developers, DevOps and other stakeholders to access, deploy and manage resources without relying on a central IT team.
When building a self-service portal, the goal is to simplify and standardize development activity within the organization and cut down on, and even eliminate shadow IT.
To eliminate shadow IT, any new approach must be easier to use than the current solution, by a significant enough margin experts in the previous solution want to change over. This can be achieved by making sure documentation is clear and sufficient to manage the transition and the platform is accessible across the relevant teams. Friction must be reduced on an individual and organizational level.
By providing a streamlined and efficient way for teams to access the resources they need, you can significantly reduce the waiting time and foster a culture of self-sufficiency.
Step 3: Start Small With a VM or a Cloud
Implementing platform engineering can be daunting, so it is wise to start with a small, manageable scope, such as a virtual machine (VM) or a cloud instance. This allows you to test and refine your approach before scaling up to more complex environments.
Pick a project in the pipeline, especially one that has presented some initial challenges, and start working within the new environment. By tackling something that has presented initial challenges it is easier to assess if the new solution is an upgrade to the current approach.
This pilot project can then be the starting point to refine processes and scale the platform to other teams. It takes the same software development approach, which DevOps-focused teams already use when rolling out updates and iterating but applies it internally.
This phased approach helps mitigate risks and ensures that any issues are identified and addressed early in the implementation process.
Step 4: Involve Your End-Users to Check What They Need
Successful platform engineering is user-centric. Engage with end-users early and often to gather their requirements and feedback. This ensures that the platform is tailored to meet their specific needs, which improves adoption and satisfaction.
Too often procurement is a top-down process controlled by departments removed from day-to-day use. Budgets are crucial to account for but if the CFO oversees the entire tech stack the user experience is likely to be lackluster. In development, features that accelerate development and response times can be missed in the cost-benefit analysis of new platforms.
Instead, take an iterative approach that is realistic about constraints while responding to feedback. This engages the entire organization and while no single stakeholder will get everything, overall satisfaction with the chosen solution will be higher, as will organizational buy-in.
This buy-in does not end with procurement. Take a DAY2 approach to deploying internal updates as well. Platform engineering is at its core an iterative process and regular monitoring will help the platform to be relevant. As with shadow IT, most users start using the standard stack, however, as better options become available they switch away. Continuous monitoring and updates keep a lid on shadow IT, static deployments do not.
By involving end users in the development process, you create a platform that is both effective and user-friendly, leading to higher engagement and better outcomes.
Step 5: Bring in the Ecosystem
Finally, integrating various practices and teams is essential to create a holistic platform. Collaboration between DevOps, developers, FinOps and GreenOps teams fosters innovation and sustainability.
One of the most pressing challenges for organizations is security. Whatever can be automated and integrated into the platform to provide security should be a priority. Human error is still the main cause of data breaches so removing the need for best practices wherever possible should be a critical function.
This need for automated security is doubly important considering the requirement for modern teams to work collaboratively and often remotely. As technology becomes more complex across teams collaboration and knowledge sharing are more important than ever. Every engineer has worked on a project where cryptic notes in the code from previous developers were the only instructions available. A modern engineering platform should make this stereotype a thing of the past. Slack and Teams integrations as well as built-in, comprehensive notes need to be standard.
The last factor that is of increasing importance is the carbon impact of a platform. Cloud costs are tightly correlated with carbon costs, so an efficient solution is a cost-effective one. By aligning DevOps with GreenOps it is possible to cut down on waste and make better software that achieves several business objectives at once.
A well-integrated ecosystem ensures that all aspects of the platform are aligned and working toward common goals, leading to a more cohesive and efficient operation.
Platform engineering can unlock efficiency and innovation within your organization. By prioritizing automation, empowering teams with self-service portals, starting with manageable scopes, involving end-users and fostering an integrated ecosystem, you can create a robust and scalable platform. This approach not only streamlines operations but also drives continuous improvement and innovation, positioning your organization for long-term success.