{"id":1982,"date":"2022-11-11T11:47:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T11:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomgeraghty.co.uk\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2023-06-06T09:05:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T09:05:49","slug":"platform-vs-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomgeraghty.co.uk\/index.php\/platform-vs-product\/","title":{"rendered":"Platform Engineering and the Platform Operating Model"},"content":{"rendered":"

TL;DR: What is platform engineering? Isn’t that just old Dev vs Ops thinking? What is the Platform Operating Model?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A platform operating model is:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201ca business model that creates value by facilitating exchanges between two or more interdependent groups, usually consumers and producers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying DevOps thinking, we can adopt that model internally to organisations, by considering a platform team as the producers of the platform service to a range of consumers – the value-stream oriented product teams.<\/p>\n

Value stream-aligned teams focus on a single value (or revenue) stream, because that singular laser focus on the success of their product maximises the return on investment. However, it\u2019s not efficient or effective for each stream-aligned team to use and maintain all the underlying technology beneath it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the old days, we might have addressed this with a separate Ops team who provided the infrastructure, but that (as we know) caused inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and created \u201cwalls of confusion\u201d when applications were thrown over from Dev to Ops in order to run in production. Instead, modern platforms allow stream-aligned teams to consume platform services in order to run their own workloads. The stream-aligned team \u201cpull\u201d services from the platform team, instead of \u201cpushing\u201d the application over to an operations team.<\/span><\/p>\n

An effective platform engineering<\/a> capability achieves an economy of scale by allowing multiple stream aligned teams to consume the same platform, but primarily aims to improve *flow*, and reduce the cognitive load of developers using the platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what is a platform?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cA digital platform is a foundation of self-service APIs, tools, services, knowledge and support which are arranged as a compelling internal product. Autonomous delivery teams can make use of the platform to deliver product features at a higher pace, with reduced co-ordination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From Evan Bottcher, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/martinfowler.com\/articles\/talk-about-platforms.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what is a product?<\/b><\/p>\n

A product simplifies something for the consumer, solves a market problem and\/or addresses a customer\u2019s need or desire. In the case of an internal platform, the market is an internal market, and the customer is the stream aligned team(s). This is also why an organisation may create multiple platforms and platform engineering teams: different stream aligned teams have different needs, and to meet all those needs, a platform would end up being too large, cumbersome and bulky, like a huge swiss army knife with a hundred features when you only need a knife.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s founder, Jeff Bezos, once said, \u201c<\/span>Your goal should be to create value for everyone you interact with.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A product is:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n