If you’ve been following the DevOps space recently, you’ve probably noticed the excitement brewing around platform engineering. With uncertainty looming over other areas of technology, it is encouraging to see platform engineering poised for significant growth. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of software engineering organizations will have established platform teams. So, what exactly is platform engineering, and why is it gaining such momentum?
The projected growth and significance of platform engineering
Despite the challenges faced by the tech industry, the field of platform engineering is expected to grow rapidly. Gartner’s projections indicate the increasing recognition of the importance of platform teams in software development organizations. This growth expectation serves as a testament to the value these teams bring in streamlining processes and ensuring efficient software delivery.
The Role of the Internal Developer Platform (IDP)
At the heart of platform engineering is the concept of the internal developer platform (IDP). This tooling system, owned and operated by platform teams, is paramount to enhancing developer efficiency, satisfaction, and release fluidity. The IDP empowers developers by providing them with a centralized platform that supports and simplifies their work.
Developers: The Expanding Scope of Responsibility
As software development evolves, developers find themselves overseeing more aspects of the software life cycle management. This expanded scope often includes shipping and running cloud-native applications. While beneficial, this also places additional burdens on developers, diverting their focus from core coding activities. Platform engineering addresses this challenge by outsourcing the maintenance of these tools to a common platform, thereby relieving developers of this responsibility and enabling them to dedicate more time to writing code.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Tool Maintenance
By leveraging a shared platform for tool maintenance, developers can streamline their workflows and enhance productivity. Platform teams take ownership of ensuring that the tools needed for shipping and running cloud-native applications are up to date and well maintained. This centralized approach reduces redundancy and provides a stable environment that allows developers to focus on coding, resulting in faster software delivery.
Functions of Platform Engineering Teams
Platform engineering teams play a crucial role in managing and optimizing the IDP. At a high level, these teams perform various functions, such as maintaining the overall platform infrastructure, managing scalability and reliability, creating abstractions and APIs, and enabling self-service capabilities for developers. Their expertise in these areas allows developers to concentrate on writing high-quality code, while the platform team supports them with the necessary infrastructure and services.
Separating Concerns to Optimize Expertise
To ensure efficiency and maximize expertise, it is essential to separate the roles of developers and platform teams. By allowing developers to focus on coding and leaving infrastructure and tooling management to the platform team, both groups can excel in their respective areas of expertise. This separation eliminates redundant efforts and facilitates seamless collaboration between teams, leading to better overall software development outcomes.
Embracing the 80/20 Rule in Platform Engineering
In platform engineering, it is crucial to acknowledge that satisfying every individual’s needs is impractical. Platform organizations operate on an 80/20 game principle, aiming to cater to the majority while balancing the needs of different teams and projects. Recognizing that perfection cannot be achieved for everyone’s preferences allows platform engineering teams to prioritize and optimize their efforts where they can deliver the most significant impact and value.
Challenges Faced by Platform Organizations
Platform organizations often encounter pressure to build services that are agile and cloud-agnostic while meeting the demands of various cloud and data center environments. These challenges arise due to the dynamic nature of modern software development practices. However, with careful planning and the right technology solutions, platform teams can navigate these obstacles and provide the necessary support to developers.
Customizing IDPs with reference architectures
To tailor internal developer platforms to different scenarios, reference architectures specific to various clouds can significantly aid platform engineering efforts. These architectures offer guidelines and best practices for building IDPs that align with specific cloud environments. By leveraging these reference architectures, platform teams can optimize the IDP to support the diverse needs of developers across different cloud and data center infrastructures.
Platform engineering is rapidly gaining momentum, providing developers with the tools and support they need to thrive in a constantly evolving software development landscape. By embracing internal developer platforms and separating concerns between developers and platform teams, organizations can streamline software lifecycle management, boost efficiency, and improve overall productivity. As platform engineering continues to evolve, it will play a pivotal role in enabling software engineering organizations to stay agile, innovative, and cloud-agnostic.