Steve Schiff’s Post

6 reasons why developer platforms fail. 1. Product misfit 2. Overly complex design 3. Swiss knife syndrome 4. Insufficient documentation 5. Siloed development 6. Stagnant platform Whether you're developing or using a platform, it’s imperative to understand and address the unique needs of your developers. You can overcome most of these challenges by treating your platform as a product. By applying the product mindset to your platform, you chalk out a clear path for your platform and its future. ✍✍✍

Build Platform Engineering as a Product for Dev Adoption... Adopting a platform engineering strategy is only the start of the process. Turning it into a valuable product that your developers will adopt and support is a critical part of the journey.

🧠 I've had the opportunity to learn so much over the last year, deeply embedding into Platform Engineering communities and learning about their successes and challenges. So many recognizable patterns have emerged: ➕ Our metrics tell the wrong story when we are not continuously monitoring our systems, forcing us into teleological patterns of analysis rather than proactive understanding ➕ Systems Thinking is more important than ever, #Deming knew that only 4% of an organization's productivity is a result of the worker, while 96% is related to the underlying productivity systems ➕ Throwing more tools just leads to tool sprawl and head first into Ashby's Law, we have to think about foundational tools that align with sociotechnical challenges and culture. Read more about it in my newest contribution to The New Stack! #PlatformEngineering #DevEx #DevOps

What if your platform wasn’t just functional but a developer favorite? In his The New Stack blog, Justin Reock shares 6 steps to shift from reactive fixes to proactive impact. ✨ Root out real pain points. ✨ Develop Systems Thinking. ✨ Drive developer love with a product mindset. Curious? See how: https://lnkd.in/gzpYmadk

I spend a gigantic amount of time observing platform teams, initiatives, and the industry as a whole. I strongly believe that the platform engineering fundamentals course from the Platform Engineering Community is one of the most valuable things on the market right now. The second group of people is starting in just a few weeks October 10, and will continue until the end of November after 8 live sessions. If you wanted to join, I have some rather exciting news. You can use the code COURSE30 and get a 30% discount code when you get your spot. So what’s actually in the course? The course is designed to be an effective singular source of all the fundamentals of platform engineering e.g. Platform as a Product, golden paths, DevOps vs PE, infrastructure platform engineering, platform orchestration, Backstage, and other more important interfaces ;) + much more. Interestingly, the majority of people who joined the first course joined as part of a full team from their company. That makes perfect sense. If you want to make sure your team: - all have the same definition of platform engineering - understands the best practices, the big mistakes and how to avoid them - has the product management knowledge they need to deliver value AND know how to actually sell platform engineering internally and get buy-in from management and adoption from your developers. Then the course is a no brainer. I will boldly claim that with it you could save months of time in aligning your platform team, and delivering on your platform. Go take a look! And remember to use the code COURSE30 if you want that discount:) https://lnkd.in/g22cxzGq

Crowdtesting is a powerful tool that can help DevOps and engineering teams improve efficiency, reduce technical debt and deliver higher quality software. Read this blog post from expert Michael Giacometti to learn how crowdtesting works throughout the SDLC and the benefits it can bring to your organization. https://bit.ly/4c7aNkc #Crowdtesting #DevTrends

I recently came across an insightful article by Adam Ard that addresses some of the key challenges in the software development process. Adam offers specific solutions that I found to be very practical. For those navigating the delicate balance between product and engineering teams, this might be a valuable read. You can check it out here: https://lnkd.in/dP_zJwtk

Product Mindset Key to Platform Engineering Success “Build it, and they will come” is not a viable strategy for ensuring developers will adopt your platform. To avoid your platform’s untimely demise, you have to treat your platform like a product and sell it to your customers: Your developers. The lighthouse team approach is valuable because it helps platform teams avoid boiling the ocean while also ensuring your platform provides real value every step of the way. #product #platformEngineering

Platform Engineering has evolved beyond tools. It's about creating a seamless, end-to-end experience for developers and enabling them to build and deploy applications efficiently. This involves fostering a culture of collaboration, where Platform Engineers work alongside developers to understand their needs, challenges, and workflows. They are the architects of the digital foundation that businesses rely on. Let's shift our focus from tools to people and processes, because it's the people who create the real value. If your business is looking to leverage the power of Platform Engineering, we're here to help. Let's connect and take your software development to the next level. #PlatformEngineering #DevOps #Slalom https://lnkd.in/eTKYdqTf

Here's what I'll do in the first month as Engineering Manager or Director with your team: 1. Meet with project stakeholders and identify big-picture trajectory goals and identify what has been working well and not working well 2. Meet individually with every engineer to get to know each engineer's strengths and expertise, and hear from them what they think the main problem points on the team are 3. if issue tracking is not already extremely efficient and centralized, i will implement a strict github-flow-based (https://lnkd.in/graseP_a) project workflow with centralized issue tracking based around github projects (https://lnkd.in/gg7DNtce). I will help you step away from jira and asana hell. 4. If it doesnt already exist, i will assign accountability on the team based on expertise (database lead, front-end lead, back-end lead, ux lead...). those accountable will have final say over merging any new work into their area of expertise without requiring my input. 5. I will inspire a documentation-first culture and work to eliminate road blocks for all engineers. This will become increasingly important in the ai-driven engineering age. 6. I will allocate a huge amount of focus working with devOps to implement automation basically wherever it's possible across the entire stack. Manual deployments will never happen again on my watch. only tested, repeatable, rollbackable, predictable automated deployments. I'm available and ready to start now. like & comment for reach, and share my profile if you know a team who is interested.