How a Platform as a Product Drives Better DevOps

The word “platform” is commonly used from manufacturers to software developers, retailers to cloud providers. In the context of agile methodology and DevSecOps, the platform a company chooses to use (whether internally developed or as a service) has a major impact on developers’ productivity. 

This is because there is a level of understanding and ownership that engineers need to have over the platform as well as the system. To build features in the cloud, organizations need to be able to deploy the code that their teams are writing, add automated testing, and understand what their deployment and change management processes look like. According to Erin Geoghan, Head of Product Engineering, Ippon Technologies, “This is a key element of doing platform modernization and product engineering properly.”

A company can create its own platform, or it may purchase access to a third-party platform; cloud service providers often offer “Platform as a Service (PaaS)." Service level agreements (SLAs) are essential elements of effective PaaS, and companies should use internal measures to give their platforms robustness. 

It’s important to note that while Service Level Objectives (SLOs) are the internal goals for the level of availability expected from a system, Service Level Indicators (SLIs) are the critical measurements to determine that availability. 

Changing the Mindset on Operational Investment

To put SLOs and SLIs in place, a change in executives’ investment mindset is required. Rather than viewing a platform purchase or platform service agreement as a one-time decision, it requires an understanding that platforms need the same kind of attention as their own product, which is crucial to maintaining time-to-market viability. 

This is how “platform as a product” ties back to organizations discovering that agile and DevSecOps, whether together or by themselves, do not guarantee ongoing success for new features or products.

At Ippon, our distinguished engineers, like Lane Jennison, compare this to building a commercial building. You need to know if it’s 20,000 square feet or 40,000 square feet. You need to know where the water and sewer lines are going before you pour the foundation because it’s hard to move them once the concrete is poured. But once the exterior is constructed, where the interior walls go, the functions of the rooms and how they’re shaped can all be reconfigured according to the occupants’ needs.

Putting it all Together

In identifying the need for ongoing investment in the platform as a product, one concept that clarifies requirements is product-minded engineering. The SRE team responsible for maintaining the platform has to have ownership of the platform, with responsibility for its successes or failures, and be guided by empathy for the company’s customers and a commitment to meeting their needs. In this way, they look to enhance the platform to create what their customers need to succeed in their own operations.

To learn more about how Ippon helps drive your software development efforts to the next level, download our latest eBook, "The Secret to Boosting DevSecOps and Developer Productivity."