Why DevOps teams are shifting to platform engineering [Q&A]

Software development has become increasingly demanding in recent years often driven by underlying infrastructure complexities.

This is leading some organizations to shift towards dedicated platform engineering teams. These can help by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing security protocols, and providing seamless integration across diverse systems. This in turn enables developers to focus on their core role of building applications.

We talked to Keith Babo, VP of product for Solo.io, to learn more about the role of platform engineering.

BN: What has prompted developer teams to move from traditional DevOps practices to platform engineering?

KB: Developer teams have increasingly moved from traditional DevOps practices to platform engineering as they grapple with the growing demands of modern software development. While DevOps was initially successful in breaking down silos between development and operations, promoting collaboration, and accelerating software delivery -- it also brought new challenges as organizations began to scale these practices.

As the number of applications and services grew, teams faced the complexities of managing highly diverse and distributed systems. This complexity often led to bottlenecks, with developers waiting on operations teams to provision resources and deploy applications, ultimately slowing down the delivery process. The decentralized nature of traditional DevOps meant that individual teams often managed their own tools and processes, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies across the organization. These issues highlighted the need for a more unified approach to software delivery, one that could offer both efficiency and scalability while maintaining the collaborative spirit of DevOps.

Platform engineering emerged as a response to these challenges, offering a structured solution that builds on the principles of DevOps but with a more centralized and cohesive approach. By creating internal developer platforms (IDPs), organizations can provide developers with self-service capabilities, standardized workflows, and integrated tools that streamline the entire software delivery lifecycle. These platforms act as a bridge between development and operations, reducing friction and enabling faster, more reliable application delivery.

BN: How did DevOps seek to address inefficiencies in traditional software development processes?

KB: DevOps was introduced to tackle the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in traditional software development processes, which were often marked by siloed teams and lengthy release cycles. The philosophy behind DevOps aimed to foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement by leveraging automation and agile methodologies to streamline the delivery pipeline. It sought to eliminate the barriers between development and operations teams, enabling faster and more reliable software delivery.

BN: What practices did organizations adopt under DevOps to improve software delivery?

KB: Under DevOps, organizations adopted several practices to improve software delivery, including Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), automated testing, and infrastructure as code. These practices allowed teams to automate various aspects of the software delivery process, reduce manual interventions, and ensure more consistent and reliable deployments. This approach led to significant improvements in the speed and quality of software releases.

BN: How does platform engineering aim to resolve the issues encountered with DevOps?

KB: Platform engineering addresses the challenges encountered with DevOps by shifting the focus from individual teams managing their tools and processes to a centralized platform team that provides an integrated environment for development and operations. By creating internal developer platforms, platform engineering offers self-service capabilities, standardized workflows, and integrated tooling, which reduce complexity, eliminate delays, and ensure consistency across the organization. This approach enhances the efficiency and scalability of the software delivery process.

BN: What are some of the key advantages of platform engineering?

KB: Platform engineering offers several key advantages that enhance the software delivery process. One of the primary benefits is the introduction of self-service capabilities, allowing developers to independently provision resources, deploy applications, and manage their environments. This reduces lead times and increases agility by eliminating delays and dependencies associated with traditional, ticket-based operations.

Additionally, platform engineering brings standardization through predefined workflows and automated policies, which act as guardrails to ensure that applications meet organizational standards for security, observability, and resilience. This standardization reduces the risk of errors and inconsistencies, enabling teams to focus on delivering value.

Platform engineering also integrates various tools and services into a unified interface for both development and operations, with automation playing a crucial role. By automating repetitive tasks, platform engineering not only improves productivity but also enhances the reliability and scalability of the software delivery process.

BN: How does platform engineering contribute to security and compliance within an organization?

KB: Platform engineering plays a crucial role in enhancing security and compliance within an organization by embedding these considerations into the core workflows of software delivery. In traditional DevOps environments, security and compliance often required separate processes and checks, which could lead to gaps and inconsistencies. However, with platform engineering, security measures and compliance requirements are integrated directly into the internal developer platforms (IDPs) that developers use daily. This approach allows for the automation of security policies, ensuring that best practices are consistently applied across the entire organization.

For example, automated guardrails can enforce security standards and compliance protocols at every stage of the development and deployment process, reducing the risk of human error and vulnerabilities. Additionally, platform engineering provides enhanced observability and governance, enabling organizations to monitor and audit their systems more effectively. This not only helps in maintaining a strong security posture, but also ensures that the organization can quickly respond to any emerging threats or regulatory changes.

Lastly, platform engineering promotes a culture of shared responsibility between development and operations teams, where security is viewed as a critical component of the software delivery lifecycle rather than an afterthought. By embedding security and compliance into the platform itself, organizations can achieve a more robust and proactive approach to protecting their systems and data, ultimately reducing the likelihood of breaches and ensuring adherence to industry regulations.

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