Platform engineering
Shift down with platform engineering on Google Cloud
Unburden your developers by shifting workloads onto internal developer platforms (IDPs). Google Cloud’s comprehensive suite of managed services and Golden Paths make it easy to build, manage, and scale IDPs.
Overview
What is platform engineering?
Platform engineering is the practice of shifting operational and infrastructure toil away from developers and onto IDPs so application teams can focus on building and innovating.
The DevOps practice of “shifting left” introduces security and QA earlier in the development process, which can lead to more responsibilities for developers, increasing their cognitive load and lowering their productivity. Platform engineering "shifts down” these complexities onto platforms that provide self-service tools and automation.
What is an IDP?
An IDP, or internal developer platform, is a set of tools and technologies that abstract away technical complexities so developers can self-service and reduce their cognitive load.
To get the most out of your IDPs, dedicated platform engineering teams should treat them like products—and developers should be treated like customers. An IDP may or may not include a developer portal, which is a central interface for developers to access the platform.
What are Golden Paths?
Golden Paths are templates and automation for commonly performed tasks.
Golden Paths should be self-service via the IDP, well documented, and make it easy for developers to independently execute tasks in a standardized way. A Golden Path should always be defined and built in close partnership with the customers of the IDP—your developers. This collaboration is a core tenet of platform engineering; teams must work together to find, build, and refine the solution that works best for them.
Platform engineering vs DevOps: What is the difference?
Platform engineering and DevOps are complementary practices that work together to achieve faster software delivery and improved reliability and security. Platform engineering codifies DevOps practices in Golden Paths, allowing developers to follow best practices without having to be experts.
How does platform engineering on Google Cloud work?
Shifting responsibilities down from the developer to the IDP doesn’t have to stop there—by building your platform on Google Cloud, you can unlock the full potential of automation, enhanced security, increased productivity, and accelerated time to market. With Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure and comprehensive suite of managed services that act as building blocks for IDPs, platform teams can easily and quickly deliver value to their developers.
How It Works
There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to platform engineering—the value and benefits come from the shift in mindset and collaboration between teams that’s required to successfully define and build a platform.
These platforms should be delivered as a product, with ongoing developer feedback, and designed for the full service life cycle.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to platform engineering—the value and benefits come from the shift in mindset and collaboration between teams that’s required to successfully define and build a platform.
These platforms should be delivered as a product, with ongoing developer feedback, and designed for the full service life cycle.
Common Uses
Increase developer productivity
Unburden your developers by reducing their cognitive load
Shifting responsibilities to the left—a common practice in DevOps—can overburden developers with work that isn’t traditionally within their scope. By shifting down these complexities onto IDPs, you can reduce operational toil and enable developers to focus on building innovative applications.
Self-service IDPs and automation built on Google Cloud reduce manual work, cognitive overload, and context-switching for developers, improving both productivity and job satisfaction.
How-tos
Unburden your developers by reducing their cognitive load
Shifting responsibilities to the left—a common practice in DevOps—can overburden developers with work that isn’t traditionally within their scope. By shifting down these complexities onto IDPs, you can reduce operational toil and enable developers to focus on building innovative applications.
Self-service IDPs and automation built on Google Cloud reduce manual work, cognitive overload, and context-switching for developers, improving both productivity and job satisfaction.
Improve reliability and security
Standardize practices to build consistent and resilient apps
With an emphasis on Golden Paths and standardized practices, platform engineering on Google Cloud makes it easy to ensure more consistent and resilient applications. By using Google Cloud as a foundation for your IDPs, you can embed site reliability engineering (SRE) principles within the platform, leading to fewer errors, reduced downtime, and higher overall system stability.
How-tos
Standardize practices to build consistent and resilient apps
With an emphasis on Golden Paths and standardized practices, platform engineering on Google Cloud makes it easy to ensure more consistent and resilient applications. By using Google Cloud as a foundation for your IDPs, you can embed site reliability engineering (SRE) principles within the platform, leading to fewer errors, reduced downtime, and higher overall system stability.
Go to market faster
Reduce operational toil and empower developer self-service
By empowering teams with efficient, automated workflows, platform engineering on Google Cloud enables organizations to pivot quickly, adapt to changing requirements, and launch new services with speed and ease, driving overall business agility.
Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure enables efficient deployments and robust observability tools to detect and resolve issues faster. With a proactive approach to managing systems, you can reduce operational overhead and minimize downtime.
How-tos
Reduce operational toil and empower developer self-service
By empowering teams with efficient, automated workflows, platform engineering on Google Cloud enables organizations to pivot quickly, adapt to changing requirements, and launch new services with speed and ease, driving overall business agility.
Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure enables efficient deployments and robust observability tools to detect and resolve issues faster. With a proactive approach to managing systems, you can reduce operational overhead and minimize downtime.
