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Stories from PlatformCon 2024: Real-Life Insights and Successes in Platform Engineering

· 12 min read
Victor Ikeme
Victor Ikeme
Platform Engineer | Kubernetes | Cloud-Native Advocate | OSS | Technical Writer

PlatformCon 2024's "Stories" track provided a captivating look into the real-world journeys of platform engineering teams. From large enterprises to agile startups, speakers shared valuable lessons learned, highlighting both the challenges and triumphs of implementing IDPs and driving innovation.

Inspiring Case Studies and Key Takeaways​

1. A Fireside Chat with Platform Engineering Leaders:

Kelsey Hightower and Kaspar von Grünberg shared their extensive experience, offering insights into the evolution of platform engineering, its challenges, opportunities, and future directions.

2. Product Thinking in Platform Engineering:

Cansu Kavili Örnek & Anna Ciula (Red Hat) illustrated the power of applying product management principles to platform engineering, detailing successful product-oriented approaches.

3. Unified API Strategy: Cox Automotive's Transformation:

Brendan McNichols (Cox Automotive) described Cox Automotive's shift to a unified API strategy using Apollo's Federated GraphQL, transforming APIs into valuable economic assets.

4. Building Resilient IDPs with Observability:

Andreas Grabner (Dynatrace) shared best practices for building resilient IDPs, demonstrating how self-service observability empowers teams to effectively monitor deployed code.

5. Transforming API Platform Challenges into Product Success:

Tim Chipperfield (Thinkific) explained how Thinkific expanded its API platform by focusing on end-user needs and building strong stakeholder partnerships.

6. API Governance and Self-Service: The New York Times' Federated GraphQL Journey:

John Nevins (The New York Times) detailed the NYT's transition to Federated GraphQL, enhancing API governance, self-service capabilities, and platform observability.

7. Optimizing Developer Workflows: Building the IDE Golden Path:

Ben Potter (Coder) shared how various organizations built IDPs around development environments, creating streamlined workflows that maximize developer efficiency.

8. Balancing Innovation and Regulation: Platform Engineering at Ant Group:

Zijian Wang (Ant Group) discussed Ant Group's platform engineering journey, highlighting the strategies used to balance rapid innovation with the regulatory requirements of the financial services industry.

9. The Long Road to a Cloud-Native Platform: Foxtel Group's Decade-Long Journey:

Sajid Moinuddin (Foxtel Group) recounted Foxtel's decade-long search for a cloud-native microservices platform, sharing invaluable lessons learned from adapting traditional systems.

10. The Power of Community: Building a Platform Through InnerSource:

Russell Rutledge (InnerSource Commons) presented an inspiring case study showcasing how a company-wide platform emerged organically through community contributions without dedicated funding.

11. Modernizing Public Sector Platforms: Platform Engineering for State Government:

Chris Wahl (Slalom) described Slalom's experience modernizing state government platforms using cloud-native transformation to improve public sector operations.

12. Integrating Supply Chain Security into CI/CD Pipelines:

Ravi Devineni & Bobbi Wenzler (Northwestern Mutual) highlighted techniques for integrating supply chain security into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring trust and compliance.

13. Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Implementing IDPs in Enterprise Settings:

Lorne Stalker (GlobalLogic) provided practical advice for implementing IDPs in complex enterprise environments, focusing on avoiding common challenges.

14. From Skepticism to Adoption: The New York Times' Centralized Platform Journey:

David Grizzanti & Daniel Cassidy (The New York Times) outlined NYT's journey from initial skepticism to widespread platform adoption, offering a valuable roadmap for similar initiatives.

15. Secure and Scalable MLOps: BASF's Argus Platform:

Klaus Fleerkötter (Thoughtworks) & Robert Pack (BASF) shared how BASF's Argus platform supports secure MLOps, prioritizing user needs and business value in their data strategy.

16. Learning Through Iteration: The Evolution of RELEX's IDP:

Maryam Tavakkoli (RELEX Solutions) reflected on the evolution of RELEX's IDP, sharing key lessons learned through adaptation and feedback.

17. The Importance of Examples: Facilitating Platform Onboarding:

Tobias Babin (Humanitec) emphasized the crucial role of example code in platform onboarding, underscoring a community-driven approach to documentation.

18. Building Cohesive Platforms Through Centralized Services:

David Cleaver (Comcast) discussed the benefits of centralized services and interoperability for reducing cognitive load and improving platform adoption.

19. Scaling CI/CD for Thousands of Users: Adobe's GitOps Journey:

Rohan Kapoor (Adobe) shared how Adobe scaled its GitOps-based CI/CD platform to ensure reliability and adaptability for a large user base.

20. Building a Unified Data Platform Post-Merger:

Pavlo Muntianu & Maximo Alves (Just Eat Takeaway.com) discussed the challenges of building a unified data platform after a merger, focusing on collaboration and technical alignment.

21. Managing Thousands of Artifact Repositories: REWE Digital's Approach:

Lars Zimmermann (REWE Digital GmbH) shared REWE's strategies for managing artifact repositories, emphasizing automation, self-service, and secure secret rotation.

22. Lessons Learned from Two Decades of Platform Engineering:

Colin Humphreys (Syntasso) shared key lessons from years of experience in platform engineering, providing valuable guidance for avoiding common pitfalls.

23. Managing Hypergrowth Deployments: Lessons from Dropbox and YouTube:

Andrew Fong (Prodvana) recounted his experiences with continuous delivery at Dropbox and YouTube, focusing on strategies for managing rapid growth.

24. Scaling Mobile Platform Teams for Consistent Delivery:

Letticia Nicoli (Nubank) shared strategies for scaling mobile platform teams to maintain consistent and reliable feature delivery.

25. Leveraging Existing Systems: A Brownfield Approach to Platform Development:

Cat Morris (Syntasso) advocated for a brownfield approach, using existing systems as a foundation for building more resilient and sustainable platforms.

26. Modernizing a Legacy System: Building a Platform Team in a 150-Year-Old Company:

Mathias Gebbe & Aljoscha Pörtner (Hellmann Worldwide Logistics) chronicled their journey in forming a platform team to drive cloud-native transformation within a long-established logistics company.

27. Streamlining Legacy-to-Kubernetes Migration with a Self-Service Platform:

Harsh Singh (INDMoney) explained INDMoney's journey from EC2/ECS to EKS, detailing how they built a migration-friendly platform to guide developers.

28. Implementing Infrastructure as Code for Efficient Platform Engineering:

Adora Nwodo discussed Infrastructure as Code (IaC) best practices for building IDPs that cater to diverse teams within large enterprises.

29. Comparing Terraform and OpenTofu: A Look to the Future:

Sören Martius (Terramate) compared Terraform and OpenTofu, offering insights on using both effectively for infrastructure management.

30. Evolving Developer Portals: From Simple Portal to Comprehensive Development Hub:

Praneet Singh (Intuit) shared Intuit’s journey in evolving its developer portal into a comprehensive development hub supporting thousands of users.

31. The Power of Dogfooding: Cloudsmith's Internal Platform Experience:

Jack Gibson (Cloudsmith) highlighted the effectiveness of "dogfooding"—using their own platform internally—in platform engineering.

32. Boosting DevEx: The iA Financial Group Initiative:

Ghislain Proulx (iA Financial Group) described their DevEx initiative, highlighting the impact of improved developer experience on productivity and overall success.

PlatformCon 2024's "Stories" track offered a wealth of real-world experiences and practical lessons learned in platform engineering. These diverse case studies provided invaluable insights and inspiration for organizations embarking on their own platform journeys.

Stories from PlatformCon 2024: Real-Life Insights and Successes in Platform Engineering

The Stories track at PlatformCon 2024 provided a fascinating glimpse into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of platform engineering teams across industries. From large enterprises to tech startups, speakers shared valuable lessons and best practices for implementing Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs), overcoming operational challenges, and driving innovation. Here’s a breakdown of the inspiring case studies and key takeaways from the Stories track.

Stories Track Highlights: Real-World Lessons and Strategies​

  1. Real Talk: Platform Engineering with Kelsey Hightower and Kaspar von Grünberg

    • Speakers: Kelsey Hightower & Kaspar von Grünberg
    • Description: In this fireside chat, Hightower and Grünberg reflected on the evolution of platform engineering, sharing hard-earned insights on challenges, opportunities, and the future of the field.

  2. Platform as a Product: Stories from the Field

    • Speakers: Cansu Kavili Örnek & Anna Ciula, Red Hat
    • Description: This session illustrated the value of product thinking in platform engineering, recounting real-world workshops and successful product-oriented approaches.

  3. Cox Automotive's Journey from API Silos to a Unified API Strategy

    • Speaker: Brendan McNichols, Cox Automotive
    • Description: McNichols described how Cox Automotive shifted to a unified API strategy with Apollo’s Federated GraphQL, unlocking APIs as valuable economic assets.

  4. Observability Guide to Building Resilient, Available, and Secure IDPs

    • Speaker: Andreas Grabner, Dynatrace
    • Description: Grabner shared observability best practices for building resilient IDPs and demonstrated how self-service observability can help teams monitor code deployed through the platform.

  5. The Supergraph Marketplace: Transforming API Platform Challenges into Product Success

    • Speaker: Tim Chipperfield, Thinkific
    • Description: Chipperfield explained how Thinkific expanded its API platform, emphasizing the importance of focusing on end-user needs and building strong stakeholder partnerships.

  6. Breaking News: NYT Graph Team Transforms Platform and Reinvents Role

    • Speaker: John Nevins, The New York Times
    • Description: Nevins discussed NYT’s shift to Federated GraphQL, detailing how the transition enhanced API governance, self-service, and platform observability.

  7. Building the IDE Golden Path

    • Speaker: Ben Potter, Coder
    • Description: Potter shared how various organizations built IDPs around development environments, creating an optimized workflow where developers spend most of their time.

  8. A Blend of Fire and Ice: Platform Engineering at Ant Group

    • Speaker: Zijian Wang, Ant Group
    • Description: This talk covered Ant Group’s platform engineering journey, highlighting the strategies used to balance rapid innovation with the regulatory needs of the financial services industry.

  9. The Binge Story: Hunt for the Perfect Platform

    • Speaker: Sajid Moinuddin, Foxtel Group
    • Description: Moinuddin recounted Foxtel’s decade-long search for a cloud-native microservices platform, sharing lessons learned from adapting traditional systems.

  10. Apparating a Platform with InnerSource

    • Speaker: Russell Rutledge, InnerSource Commons
    • Description: Rutledge shared an inspiring InnerSource case study, detailing how a company-wide platform emerged without dedicated funding through community contributions.

  11. Forging a New Path to Equitable Justice – Platform Engineering for State Government

    • Speaker: Chris Wahl, Slalom
    • Description: Wahl described Slalom’s experience modernizing state government platforms, focusing on cloud-native transformation to improve public sector operations.

  12. Automating Trust in the Supply Chain

    • Speakers: Ravi Devineni & Bobbi Wenzler, Northwestern Mutual
    • Description: This session highlighted techniques for integrating supply chain security into CI/CD pipelines, ensuring trust and compliance across the software lifecycle.

  13. Dos and Don’ts of Building Internal Developer Platforms for Enterprises

    • Speaker: Lorne Stalker, GlobalLogic
    • Description: Stalker provided practical advice on implementing IDPs in enterprise settings, with a focus on avoiding common pitfalls in complex environments.

  14. Crossing the Chasm: From Conception to Early Majority on NYT's IDP

    • Speakers: David Grizzanti & Daniel Cassidy, The New York Times
    • Description: This talk outlined how NYT's centralized platform journey progressed from initial skepticism to adoption, offering a roadmap for similar initiatives.

  15. Argus, the MLOps Platform for Secure and Scalable Data Products

    • Speakers: Klaus Fleerkötter, Thoughtworks & Robert Pack, BASF
    • Description: Fleerkötter and Pack shared how BASF’s Argus platform supports secure MLOps, placing user needs and business value at the core of their data strategy.

  16. Exploring the Evolution: Lessons from Building Our IDP

    • Speaker: Maryam Tavakkoli, RELEX Solutions
    • Description: Tavakkoli reflected on the evolution of RELEX’s IDP, covering valuable insights gained through trial, adaptation, and feedback.

  17. Examples! Examples! Examples!

    • Speaker: Tobias Babin, Humanitec
    • Description: Babin emphasized the importance of providing example code to facilitate platform onboarding, underscoring a community-driven approach to documentation.

  18. Building Cohesion in Your Platforms

    • Speaker: David Cleaver, Comcast
    • Description: Cleaver discussed the benefits of centralized services and interoperability, reducing cognitive load for developers and improving platform adoption.

  19. Adobe's CI/CD Evolution: Rapid Adoption to Resilience and Scalability

    • Speaker: Rohan Kapoor, Adobe
    • Description: Kapoor shared how Adobe scaled its GitOps-based CI/CD platform to ensure reliability and adaptability for thousands of users.

  20. Building a Global Data Platform After Two Delivery Giants Merge

    • Speakers: Pavlo Muntianu & Maximo Alves, Just Eat Takeaway.com
    • Description: This talk covered the challenges of building a unified data platform post-merger, focusing on cross-team collaboration and technical alignment.

  21. How We Manage Thousands of Artifact Repositories at REWE Digital

    • Speaker: Lars Zimmermann, REWE Digital GmbH
    • Description: Zimmermann discussed REWE’s approach to managing artifact repositories, highlighting automation, self-service, and secure secret rotation.

  22. 20 Years of Platform Engineering, 10 Years of Platform as a Product: 5 Lessons Learned

    • Speaker: Colin Humphreys, Syntasso
    • Description: Humphreys shared key lessons from decades of experience in platform engineering, offering guidance on avoiding common mistakes.

  23. Lessons Learned in Hypergrowth Deployments

    • Speaker: Andrew Fong, Prodvana
    • Description: Fong recounted his experiences with continuous delivery at Dropbox and YouTube, focusing on strategies for managing hypergrowth.

  24. Mobile Platform Team: The Secrets to Successful Engineering

    • Speaker: Letticia Nicoli, Nubank
    • Description: Nicoli discussed the unique challenges of scaling a mobile platform team, sharing strategies for supporting consistent, reliable feature delivery.

  25. The Power of a Brownfield Mindset When Building Your Platform

    • Speaker: Cat Morris, Syntasso
    • Description: Morris advocated for a brownfield approach, using existing systems as a foundation for platform development to ensure greater resilience and continuity.

  26. Logbook of a Journey: Building a Platform Team in a 150-Year-Old Logistics Company

    • Speakers: Mathias Gebbe & Aljoscha Pörtner, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
    • Description: This talk chronicled how Hellmann formed a platform team to drive cloud-native transformation, modernizing a long-established logistics company.

  27. Building a Self-Service Platform for Legacy to Kubernetes Migration at INDMoney

    • Speaker: Harsh Singh, INDMoney
    • Description: Singh explained INDMoney’s journey from EC2/ECS to EKS, building a migration-friendly platform to guide developers and ensure smooth transitions.

  28. Implementing Infrastructure as Code for Efficient Platform Engineering

    • Speaker: Adora Nwodo
    • Description: Nwodo discussed Infrastructure as Code (IaC) best practices for establishing IDPs that can accommodate diverse teams within large enterprises.

  29. Navigating the Future of Terraform and OpenTofu

    • Speaker: Sören Martius, Terramate
    • Description: Martius explored the future of Terraform and OpenTofu, comparing the tools and offering insights on using both effectively.

  30. Development Portal: Unleash the Best for Your Developers

    • Speaker: Praneet Singh, Intuit
    • Description: Singh shared Intuit’s journey from a developer portal to a full-fledged development portal, supporting thousands of developers and non-technical users alike.

  31. Meta Dogfooding: How Cloudsmith Used Cloudsmith to Build Cloudsmith

    • Speaker: Jack Gibson, Cloudsmith
    • Description: Gibson shared how Cloudsmith used its own platform for artifact hosting, demonstrating the effectiveness of “dogfooding” in platform engineering.

  32. Unleashing Potential: The DevX Initiative at iA Financial Group

    • Speaker: Ghislain Proulx, iA Financial Group
    • Description: Proulx described