INSIDE THE MIND OF A SUCCESSFUL PLATFORM ARCHITECTFocusing on, Sustaining and Investing in Platform Success

Steven Willmott, Gartner Application Solutions and Strategies, 8th December 2016, Las Vegas

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

What is your deepest darkest fear?

How to stay ahead on infrastructure whilst still delivering for the business

Answering this challenge is why we build platforms

The question is how to actually succeed!

Steven Willmott, Former CEO of 3scaleSenior Director and Head of API Infrastructurehttp://www.redhat.com / http://www.3scale.net

Twitter: @njyx

See us at the Red Hat Booth

Three Principles for Platform Success

Focus : Sustain : Budget

#1 Focus on True Value

Many initiatives, all urgent, all intersecting, all conflicting

Jeff Bezos moment?

https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX (http://bit.ly/SWGA-B)

Rarely see success when platforms are built “for platforms sake”

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Outcomes

Thor Mitchell / Google / Crowdcube

DesirableUndesirable

Expected

Unexpected

Design

Fire Drill Innovation

Prohibited

EXAMPLE:MAPS CREDIT UNION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylX3hUeYr-U (http://bit.ly/SWGA-C)

Dubious: Deploy APIs Everywhere

Good: APIs for a particular new segment of the business & then

expand

Understand the Jeff Bezos moment: change the way you work, not the

infrastructure you have

Lesson:

Help move the puck!

Focus : Sustain : Budget

#1 Focus on True Value#2 Enable rather than Own

Bimodal IT ...

“Gartner’s Recipe for Disaster”- Jason Bloomberg / Forbes

“Gartner’s Bimodal IT considered harmful”

- Phil Wainwright / Diginomica

“This is akin to adding lipstick to the pig”

- Simon Wardley / CSC

Fundamental misunderstanding of Bimodal IT that it was about slowing

down one of the Modes

Actually it is about creating stability between the modes

Platform TeamPlatform Enablement Team

EXAMPLE:KEYBANK

Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

Encourage deployment but…

Provide Technology Guidance

Impose Stability Requirements

Require Lifecycle Statements

Enforce Documentation

Standards

Enforce Security Standards

In other words ensure stability

http://pages.3scale.net/api-owners-manual-wb.html (http://bitly.com/SWGA-D)

Key Principle:

Go beyond 1-NGo to N-N

EXAMPLE:SCHIPHOL AIRPORT

Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

Lesson:

Enable the platform versusowning the platform

Focus : Sustain : Budget

#1 Focus on true value#2 Enable rather than own#3 How to ask for budget

Integration // Containers // APIs

Before you rush in...

Who are the (true) beneficiaries?

Developers? Ops? Line of Business?Which partners? Which Customers?

The same dilemma:

Short term projects v’s long term investments

Creates Conflict…

EXAMPLE:3SCALE

Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

Lesson:

Don’t ask for a “Grant”Ask for a Tithe

EXAMPLE:SIMILAR WEB

Noahm Schwartz, APIStrat, 2015

EXAMPLE:FITBIT

Jeremiah Lee, San Francisco, 2016

Lesson:

Distribute the Spoils

“Grant”: Lottery WinTithe: Health Insurance

Focus : Sustain : Budget

#1 Help move the puck#2 Enable rather than own

#3 Tithe and distributeBonus: What to Measure?

Bad Measures

Number of APIs Number of API Calls

Number of Integrations

Number of Containers Number of Servers Number of Lunch &

Learns

Good Measures

Number of AppsSupported

Number of complete Use Cases Number of Users

Dollar Value of Business

Speed of Application

development

Speed of API Deployment

How much business value depends on the platform?

Focus : Sustain : Budget : Measure

How are you feeling?

It’s hard to achieve forward motion

Virtuous Cycle

Vicious Circle

Platform grew over 7 yearsBillions API Calls / Month, 1000s of APIs

Never encountered silver bulletsJust good behaviours

Built scaling, sharding, containers, APIs, …

Defensible advantage!

Conclusions

1. Focus on true value2. Enable rather than own3. Tithe and distribute 4. Measure true business value

http://bitly.com/SWGA-{A, B, C, D}

63

Cloud

Containers

Microservices

DevOps

RED HAT BRINGS ITALL TOGETHER

Storage

App Delivery

Integration

API Management

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linkedin.com/company/red-hat

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twitter.com/RedHatNews

THANK YOU

64

Red Hat BoothExpo Floor

ThanksAckowledgements

• Trademarks and Logos remain those of their owners• Graphics primarily from http://www.unsplash.com.

Royalty free art.

The extended Red Hat and 3scale teams as well as customers and analysts.

Content shared under Creative Commons Attribution and Share Alike License:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

Additional Information

Great Advice from Uncle Bob(Robert C. Martin)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSaAMQVq01E&feature=youtu.be&t=6m

● Ensure quality● Stable productivity● Continuous improvement ● Fearless competence● Random Acts of Integration

Kindness

TDD Principles for your Platform