Platform Engineers: Navigating Complexity in the Cloud Era

Platform engineers are navigating complexity in the cloud era as they design and maintain software infrastructure for developers, balancing expectations from stakeholders, managing adoption, and measuring ROI. With robust platforms in place, developers can focus on delivering applications instead of wrestling with infrastructure. However, technical challenges such as growing variation and keeping up with scaling applications can lead to an "over-general swamp" where platform teams spend too much time maintaining disparate systems. A new book by industry leaders provides guidance on making competent technical choices that win acceptance from stakeholders, including building trust, creating metrics, standardizing innovation, and managing migrations.