6 common misconceptions of platform engineering

In the fast-evolving world of digital transformation, platform engineering is emerging as a key enabler for organizations striving to deliver innovative data and digital products efficiently.

However, despite its growing popularity, several misconceptions continue to cloud its true potential. From perceived increases in complexity to fears of hampered developer innovation, these misunderstandings can deter businesses from fully embracing platform engineering solutions.

In this blog, we will debunk six common misconceptions about platform engineering and show how a thoughtfully implemented Internal Developer Portal (IDP), such as Calibo, can streamline processes, enhance compatibility, and foster a productive, innovation-driven environment for your teams.

1. Increased complexity

Implementing platform engineering could, at first glance, seem to add more complexity to your infrastructure. If you are using an IDP like Calibo, after a quick set-up phase, this complexity is simplified, and the portal accelerates your workflow, enabling a much faster launch of data and digital products.  

A well-designed IDP lets your platform engineer define once what technologies, infrastructure, machine sizes, and standardization and automation templates can be used by product teams. After that, the product teams can self-provision their development and deployment environments based on the pre-sets. This means fewer dependencies and more developer team productivity and empowerment.

2. Compatibility issues

A platform engineering platform may not be compatible with all technologies and tools that your developer team is using. This can cause friction and slow down the process. However, this highly depends on your platform provider.

For example, the Calibo platform is already integrated with 150+ top-tier technologies, which ensures that the portal is very likely compatible with your existing tech stack. And, as Calibo has no vendor lock-in, you can change your tech stack whenever you need to.   

3. Steep learning curve and onboarding

A cloud-first strategy and modernizing an enterprise’s technology ecosystem usually involves a steep learning curve for staff. Better platform engineering solutions provide professional onboarding and persona-based training, plus helpful guidance from their experienced cloud and platform engineers. (You guessed it, Calibo offers this).

It can be challenging to find talent in the market who can comprehend and manage such a broad technical topic. However, with Calibo, there is a clear and guided learning process based on the most recent best practices.

4. Time-consuming and cumbersome set-up

IT leaders often find implementing digital transformation strategies cumbersome and time-consuming. Again, this depends on how your provider is set up and what support they offer. (With Calibo, you can get started up to 40% quicker and start to see business value in weeks instead of months.)

5. Siloed organizations

Existing silos within an organization can hinder cross-functional collaboration and cause friction (often between product and platform teams) when trying to establish a cohesive platform ecosystem. It may be that there is a strong preference to work separately, or there may be resistance to adopting a platform-centric approach, especially from teams accustomed to project-specific solutions or direct control over their tools and processes.

If this is the case in your company, persona-based training can help you understand how different types of roles can benefit (what’s in it for them) and facilitate internal buy-in. Calibo offers persona-based training and can help with strategies that alleviate some of this pain.

6. Reduced developer innovation

A common misconception is that a platform engineering solution may hinder your developers’ innovation. This is not the case, because a well-designed platform acts as a springboard for creativity rather than a constraint. It establishes a solid foundation of reusable components, best practices, and automation that liberates developers from redundant, low-level work, allowing them more time to focus on crafting unique features and solutions.

Additionally, by standardizing tools and procedures, a platform unburdens teams from the complexity of managing infrastructure, freeing them to push the boundaries of what’s possible within a secure and reliable environment.

Remember, automated workflows and standardized, pre-built tools help speed up development, testing, and deployment processes. This allows teams to deliver features more quickly and frequently and respond quickly to changing market needs, effectively reducing the time to market for new features and products.

In essence, platform engineering enables innovation by providing a robust framework within which developers can explore and create without being bogged down by the mechanics of provisioning and setup.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• With platform engineering, you set everything up once and then repeat the process with certain automated templates. 
• If you don’t create digital products, or if you have a very small team, and you’re currently working efficiently – you probably don’t need platform engineering.
• If your digital creation process is complex in any way, you will greatly benefit from a platform engineering solution.

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