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Richard BOWN
That One Script You Wrote Is Now a Platform
DevOops Meetup #4 - 22 November 2023
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Consulting DevOps Engineer
Likes:
• Building (internal) products
• DevOps, CI/CD, Automation, TDD, DDD
• Socio-technical systems
Dislikes:
• Big transformations
• Repeated, error-prone manual processes
• Brittle pipelines
• Writing more code than absolutely necessary
RICHARD BOWN
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https://teamtopologies.com/mission
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me (this morning)
“A platform isn’t always planned. It can be
an engineering reaction to an
organisational constraint.”
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What Is a Platform Team and What Problems Do They Solve?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5M16qooAvo
What Is a Platform Team and What Problems Do
They Solve? Armon Dadgar
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zH7TIXcjEs
Tips For Building Successful Platform Teams
Dave Farley
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Source: https://www.founderjar.com/types-of-technology-platforms/ https://www.founderjar.com/authors/#Anastasia_Belyh
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SOMETIMES
YOU
ARE
THE
PLATFORM
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“If the architecture of the system and the architecture of the
organization are at odds, the architecture of the organization wins.”
Ruth Malan (@visarch)
Mel Conway
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DISCOVERING THE
PLATFORM TEAM
How does it appear?
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COGNITIVE
OVERLOAD
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The “failing DevOps
team” is a symptom.
You org is sick.
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Source: https://web.devopstopologies.com/ https://blog.matthewskelton.net/2013/10/22/what-team-structure-is-right-for-devops-to-
fl
ourish/
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Anti-Patterns of Platform Teams
Jack of All Trades - too many services, not able to adequately provide them.
Overloaded - too many teams to support, staff rotate rapidly including PO/PM,
management unaware of what to do
Fortress - behind their walls, they do what they like, poorly maintained tools are
thrown to teams. Management often not in the loop
Abandoned - setup by a small group in the past to do the right thing but now
drifting with unclear responsibilities but a wide user base
Well-Intentioned - a fully designed platform which is hard to use (Ivory Tower of
Dave Farley)
Organic - a platform has appeared from the mists. (Design by Accident of DF)
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BUILDING A
SUCCESSFUL
(PLATFORM) TEAM
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Productize your
Services
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Person
Product
Script
Wiki
Backstage
etc.
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Build the Thinnest
Viable Platform
https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Thinnest-Viable-Platform-examples
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https://github.com/TeamTopologies/Team-API-template
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Tension between
Operational vs Planned
Work is a Good Thing™
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Bown’s Tips for Successful Platform Teams #1
Richard Bown 2023 - richardwbown.com
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Bown’s Tips for Successful Platform Teams #2
Define Your Customer
Focus on User Experience
Self-Service as Possible
Thinnest Viable Platform
Richard Bown 2023 - richardwbown.com
Product Thinking
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Recognise Conway’s Law
and Cognitive Load.
Define your boundaries.
Protect your service levels.
Actively reduce scope.
Bown’s Tips for Successful Platform Teams #3
Richard Bown 2023 - richardwbown.com
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Richard BOWN
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-bown/
https://teamtopologies.com/all-tta/richard-bown
https://www.meetup.com/fast-
fl
ow/