Platform teams fail for organizational reasons, not technical ones. Here's how to set up platform teams for success.
Team Structure
A platform team needs:
- Product manager
- Engineers
- SRE/DevOps
- Technical writer
Funding Model
Platforms need sustained investment:
- Central funding preferred
- Chargeback models create friction
- Project funding creates instability
Relationship with App Teams
Platform team is a service provider:
- Understand user needs
- Provide support
- Accept feedback
- Measure satisfaction
Avoiding Common Failures
The Mandate Problem: Forcing adoption breeds resentment
The Premature Platform: Building before understanding needs
The Forever Platform: Building instead of using existing solutions
Success Metrics
Track outcomes, not outputs:
- Developer satisfaction
- Time to production
- Platform adoption
- Incident reduction