Platform engineering represents the next stage in DevOps.

While Kubernetes (like other technologies) can be excellent starting points, they are not the ultimate goal in delivering on the promise of platform engineering. Kubernetes can provide a strong foundation for building comprehensive platforms, but more is needed to fully develop a platform that enables developers to deliver with substantial autonomy. In real terms, this means increasing decentralized decisioning, faster flow, faster times to recovery, and, overall, happier developers.

In "Platform Thinking: Strategies for Building Effective Platform Teams," we will dive into the essentials of modern platform engineering. The workshop discusses the importance of a product mindset, domain-driven design, developer experience, and team topologies in building a well-architected system with the platform as a key enabler. Hands-on approaches to reducing developer cognitive load while delivering on orchestration, continuous delivery, observability, governance, and security are key workshop components.

Platform engineering teams are central to how modern teams deliver on the promise of devops today. This workshop is all about strategies for building effective platform teams today.

Workshop Outline:

* Platform Engineering (Goals, Principles, & Approach)
* Delivery Plane (Kubernetes)
* Developer Control Plane (Inner Loop, Outer Loop & GitOps)
* Observability, Security, & Compliance/Governance Planes
* Developer Experience & Developer Portals
* PE PoV: Business Value Articulation

Key Takeaways

1 Platforms are the next evolution of DevOps, helping teams reduce the cognitive load required in modern cloud-native systems.

2 There is no one-size-fits-all platform. The best approach is to start with a clear business objective, deliver in small increments, and measure the effectiveness of each.

3 Platforms should simplify how developers meet organizational NFRs around security, observability, compliance, and reliability.

4 Developer portals are key to enabling self-service and should prioritize the developer experience.

Speaker

Wes Reisz

Technical Principal @EqualExperts, ex-Thoughtworker & ex-VMWare, 16-Time QCon Chair, Creator/Co-host of The InfoQ Podcast

Wes has been an active member of the QCon and InfoQ communities since 2015. Professionally, he is a Technical Principal at Equal Experts, where he specializes in app modernization and platform engineering. Wes embraces the notion of the T-shaped engineer, blending broad expertise across a wide range of software domains with deep technical knowledge in the cloud-native ecosystem. He believes in the transformative power of speaking, teaching, and continuous learning.

Wes has over 20 years of experience in software engineering. During that time, he has chaired more than 15 QCon software conferences in San Francisco, London, and New York; created the well-respected InfoQ Podcast; and spent over 10 years teaching 400-level courses on software architecture and programming at the University of Louisville. These experiences have provided him with broad knowledge across a wide range of areas in software while fostering technical depth in software architecture, cloud-native engineering, and platform thinking.

Before joining Equal Experts, Wes held technical leadership roles at Thoughtworks, where he focused on cloud and modernization; at VMware, as a Tanzu Platform Architect specializing in Spring, Kubernetes, and the developer path to production; and at an edge-related startup, where he served as VP of Technology, driving innovation at the edge.