I will discuss how I think platforms should be structured, and why it’s always plural, there isn’t one platform or one platform team. I base this on four principles. The first principle: it isn’t one platform, The second principle: platform layers are dynamic. The third principle: the interface should be driven by the users of the platform. The fourth principle: a clear distinction should be made between building internal platforms optimized to change quickly to meet specific business needs, and building externalized platforms optimized for long term stability. I'll discuss some example structures that I've seen work well, dig into the difficult problems around managing change, and use Wardley Mapping to explore the area.
Adrian Cockcroft is an independent technologist and strategist with broad experience from the bits to the boardroom, in both enterprise and consumer-oriented businesses, from startups to some of the largest companies in the world, equally at home with hardware and software, development and operations.He’s best known as the cloud architect for Netflix during their trailblazing migration to AWS and ...