If you’ve heard of DevOps, then you have probably heard of the term ‘platform engineering’ before. Over time, platform engineering has become a hot topic that we love to hate. While it promises faster release cycles and developer empowerment through self-service, not everyone buys into this concept.
If you haven’t heard of the term before, then throughout this blog, we'll dissect platform engineering, understand what it actually is, and explore how it can truly empower your developers.
An Introduction to Platform Engineering
The rise of platform engineering is reshaping how we think and approach DevOps, introducing new paradigms and practices that build upon the foundation laid by DevOps principles.
Last year, Civo conducted research surrounding the evolution of DevOps and the rise of platform engineering. According to this research, among organizations that have adopted platform engineering, 50.4% reported improved standardization, and 43.2% experienced faster product delivery.
These figures underscore how platform engineering isn't replacing DevOps but rather enhancing software delivery through standardized practices such as GitOps, which enables teams to use Git as the single source of truth for all deployments.
What is Platform Engineering?
Platform engineering is the practice of designing and building tooling, workflows, and processes that enable developers to deliver and manage software systems efficiently. Sound familiar? You've probably heard the term "self-service" thrown around a lot lately. That's because it's at the heart of platform engineering's mission to empower developers.
Does this mean devs deploy their code? Not exactly. The idea is to build tooling and processes that enable developers to release code quickly and safely.
“Platform engineering drives organizational sustainability by practicing sociotechnical principles that provide a community driven support system for application developers using our standardized shared platform architecture.” - Lesley Cordero at YOW! 2023
Platform engineers are now responsible for maintaining these new ecosystems that support developers. They create the guardrails and automated pathways that allow developers to confidently deploy and manage their applications without getting bogged down in operational complexities.
During Civo Navigate Local 2024, Kunal Kushwaha gave a talk which explored the fundamentals of platform engineering, its evolution, and its role in modern organizations:
What are the Benefits of Platform Engineering?
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Improved quality | Platform engineering elevates overall software quality by implementing standardized processes, automated testing, and consistent environments across development, staging, and production. |
| Reduced costs | Platform engineering significantly shrinks the deployment timeline, slashing the "time cost" of getting applications to production. By providing pre-configured, standardized environments and automated deployment pipelines, it eliminates time-consuming manual processes and environment setup tasks. |
| Handles growth | When done right, platform engineering serves as a blueprint for team growth, it provides a standardized infrastructure and toolset that can accommodate increasing workloads, team sizes. |
| Improved security | Platform engineering helps standardize the application delivery process, which can reduce vulnerabilities caused by misconfiguration when deploying new applications. |
Implementing Platform Engineering
Understanding the concept is one thing, but preparing for the shift requires a retrospective on the state of your organization's deployment practices and how much you stand to gain from introducing new methods of deploying. Remember, the goal here is to complement existing efforts.
“As organizations continue to adapt and evolve in response to market dynamics, they must embrace the principles of these disciplines, invest in the necessary skill sets, and align their strategies with emerging trends to maintain a competitive edge.” - Mark Boost, CEO of Civo
Steps to take
Much like Rome, platform engineering can't be embraced in a day. It's a journey that requires careful planning, incremental progress, and a clear vision. Here's a roadmap to help you navigate this transformative process:
Step 1: Assess your Current State
Start by evaluating your existing infrastructure, tools, and processes. Understand your pain points and identify areas where platform engineering can bring the most value. This assessment will form the foundation of your strategy.
Step 2: Leverage Existing Tools
If you're already in the Kubernetes ecosystem and using GitOps tools like ArgoCD, you're off to a great start. Build on this foundation by:
- Implementing infrastructure as code (IaC) using tools like Terraform or Pulumi
- Implementing policy as code with an Open Policy Agent (OPA) for governance, which will serve as guardrail for future improvements.
Step 3: Choose Your Platform Presentation
Decide how you want to present your platform to end users. This decision will shape the developer experience and adoption rate. You have two main routes:
- Open Source: Tools like Backstage are rapidly becoming the standard for developing internal developer portals. Backstage offers a plugin architecture that allows you to integrate various tools and services, providing a unified interface for your developers.
- Proprietary: Solutions like Cortex and Port.io offer similar features to Backstage but with less management overhead. These tools come with out-of-the-box integrations and support, which can be beneficial if you have limited resources for platform development and maintenance.
Step 4: Implement Multi-Cloud Resource Provisioning
Consider using Crossplane to provision and manage resources across different cloud providers. This approach allows you to:
- Abstract away cloud-specific APIs, providing a consistent interface for your developers.
- Implement a true multi-cloud strategy, reducing vendor lock-in.
For example, you might use AWS for development environments, taking advantage of their generous Graviton instance offering for cost-effective ARM-based computing. Meanwhile, you could deploy production workloads on Civo, because of the cost-to-performance ratio that aligns with your organization's financial goals.
Step 5: Iterate and Improve
Remember, platform engineering is an ongoing process. Continuously gather feedback from your developers, monitor platform usage, and iterate on your design. Be prepared to adapt as new technologies emerge and your organization's needs evolve.
Civo has a brilliant guide on some things to consider when embracing platform engineering.
The Role of IDP’s in Platform Engineering
Internal Developer Portals (IDPs) are never too far from the platform engineering conversation. Remember the concept of self-service tools we discussed earlier? IDPs play a central role in facilitating this self-service approach.
These portals are the user interface tools and infrastructure provided by platform engineers. They act as a central hub where developers can discover, access, and utilize the necessary tools to build and deploy applications and even provision predefined resources.
Open-source tools like Backstage from Spotify is an excellent example of a platform that helps build powerful internal developer portals. Backstage provides a framework for building customized developer portals.
What’s next for Platform Engineering?
As we look back on the evolution of modern-day operations, it's clear that we've come a long way. The future of platform engineering is shaping up to be one where automation takes focus, making tools and practices accessible to teams of all sizes.
We're witnessing a shift towards doing more with less. Software security and compliance, especially in hybrid environments, will undoubtedly become more critical. As we've seen time and again, platform engineering could play a role in ensuring that releases are safe and compliant from the get-go.
Borrowing from Kunal's cake analogy, we're moving towards an era where our platform won't just be a set of tools, but a smart assistant in our digital kitchen. It will learn from our 'recipes' – our workflows and preferences – and suggest optimizations and new approaches we might not have considered.
Summary
Platform engineering might seem like a fancy term for adopting new tools, but its core principle lies in simplification. The idea is to abstract away complex infrastructure and toolchains, providing developers with a user-friendly interface and self-service capabilities. At its core, platform engineering is the art of abstraction, taking those complex tools and processes you already have and simplifying.
And no, it's not about showing your ops team the door or embarking on a hiring spree. Platform engineering is about evolution, not revolution. It's a shift in mindset that asks: "How can we give our teams better control and visibility over their deployments?"
To which the answer lies in building platforms that support your developers, streamline your processes, and ultimately, deliver value faster.
Further Resources
If you want to learn more about platform engineering, check out some of these additional resources:
