Platform Engineering for Architects: Crafting modern platforms as a product

Design and build Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) with future-oriented design strategies, using the Platform as a Product mindset

Key Features

• Learn how to design platforms that create value and drive user adoption
• Benefit from expert techniques for shifting to a product-centric mindset as an architect and platform team
• Implement best practices to understand platform complexity, manage technical debt, and ensure its evolution
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

The rapid pace of technological advancements, the shortage of IT talent, and the complexity of modern systems highlight the need for structured guidance in building resilient, user-centric platforms for cloud-native environments. This book empowers platform engineers and architects to implement value-driven internal development platforms.

You’ll learn how to identify end users, understand their challenges, and define the purpose of a platform, with a focus on self-service solutions for modern cloud-native software development, delivery, and operations. The book incorporates real-world examples of building platforms within and for the cloud, leveraging the power of Kubernetes. You’ll learn how adopting a product mindset for architecting and building platforms helps foster successful platform engineering teams. This emphasizes early end-user involvement and provides a framework that gives you the flexibility to easily adapt and extend for future use cases. The book also offers insights into building a sustainable platform without accumulating technical debt.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to drive the design, definition, and implementation of platform capabilities as a product that aligns with your organizational requirements and strategy.

What you will learn

• Make informed decisions based on your organization’s platform needs
• Identify missing platform capabilities and technical debt
• Develop a critical user journey through your platform capabilities
• Define the purpose, principles, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your platform
• Utilize relevant data points for making data-driven product decisions
• Implement your own platform reference and target architectures

Who this book is for

This book is for platform architects and solutions architects seeking to enhance their skills in designing and building a platform as a product. It also offers valuable insights for decision-makers, platform engineers, and DevOps professionals. While familiarity with cloud-native concepts, CI/CD, and Kubernetes is beneficial, the book builds on these topics to address self-service, cost management, and technical debt. It’s particularly suited to experts tackling the challenge of integrating diverse domains to create effective internal developer platforms with top-notch operational readiness.

Table of Contents

1. Platform Engineering and the Art of Crafting Platforms
2. Understanding Platform Architecture to Build Platform as a Product
3. Building the Foundation for Supporting Platform Capabilities
4. Architecting the Platform Core – Kubernetes as a Unified Layer
5. Integration, Delivery, and Deployment – Automation is Ubiquitous
6. Build for Developers and Their Self-Service
7. Building Secure and Compliant Products
8. Cost Management and Best Practices
9. Choosing Technical Debt to Unbreak Platforms
10. Crafting Platform Products for the Future