Platform Engineering has emerged as a critical discipline in modern software development, enabling organizations to build scalable, maintainable, and innovative systems. The CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) plays a pivotal role in fostering community-driven practices that underpin this field. A collocated event, often likened to hosting a hundred birthday parties, requires meticulous coordination and preparation. This panel discussion explores how to cultivate thriving Platform Engineering communities through collaboration, innovation, and growth, drawing insights from CNCF’s ecosystem and real-world experiences.
Kelly Revan emphasizes that Platform Engineering cannot thrive in isolation. Communities are essential for driving adoption and ensuring alignment with real-world needs. She highlights the importance of engaging directly with developers through interviews to understand pain points, rather than assuming requirements. This approach prevents solutions from becoming disconnected from actual user needs, as observed in KubeCon events.
Mateo Bianke discusses the strategic balance between internal development and purchasing external tools. Small teams may prioritize internal solutions, while larger enterprises must evaluate governance and compliance frameworks. For example, some organizations integrate purchased observability tools into their existing systems, focusing their efforts on application delivery. This hybrid approach allows for flexibility and scalability.
Courtney Nickerson highlights the multifaceted nature of Platform Engineering roles, which include QA engineers, developer relations specialists, and UX designers. This diversity ensures a blend of technical expertise and interpersonal skills. She cites examples like Abby Bankser (QA background) and Steve Wade (software engineer and UX expert), underscoring the value of inclusivity and the leadership of women in the field. The "commitment fulfillment" model exemplifies how community collaboration can drive success.
William Rizzo stresses the importance of integrating legacy systems and operations teams into platform initiatives. He warns against top-down approaches that ignore existing workflows, citing a European healthcare institution’s failure due to rigid Kubernetes optimization conflicting with legacy processes. A collaborative model involving "enablement teams" to bridge internal and external capabilities is recommended.
Community feedback is critical for transforming developer input into actionable platform improvements. Courtney Nickerson advocates for continuous feedback mechanisms, such as one-on-one dialogues and online communities. Ownership of feedback is emphasized, with specific individuals responsible for driving changes. Open-source projects exemplify this, where issues are resolved collaboratively, fostering a culture of co-creation.
Kelly Revan challenges the overreliance on GitHub stars as a metric, advocating instead for pull requests and code contributions to reflect active participation. Inner source practices, tracking problem resolution and code contributions, provide deeper insights into platform health. At the enterprise level, aligning platform value with business metrics (e.g., service uptime, feature release velocity) and communicating these to leadership is essential.
William Rizzo challenges the traditional distinction between platform teams and enablement teams, advocating for integrated collaboration. He emphasizes the need to demonstrate platform value to leadership through business outcomes, such as faster feature releases and improved service stability, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
Thriving Platform Engineering communities require a balance of technical excellence and human-centric collaboration. Key actions include starting with developer interviews, establishing continuous feedback loops, and integrating community insights with business metrics. By fostering inclusivity, embracing diverse roles, and aligning with CNCF’s principles, organizations can drive innovation, growth, and sustainable success in Platform Engineering.