Rethink Developer Enablement: Alternatives to Platform Engineering

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In recent years, platform engineering has become a buzzword in the tech world, Backstage being the best-known brainchild of the Spotify engineering team. 

At its core, platform engineering refers to building internal platforms that streamline software development by setting up environments for deploying applications with standardized tools and processes.

It’s a promising idea, especially for large enterprises with complex infrastructure needs. But for many organizations, especially those growing rapidly or operating lean teams, the cost and complexity of building such platforms can outweigh the benefits.

So what’s the alternative? Fortunately, there are simpler, scalable, and effective ways to support software development without going all-in on platform engineering. In this post, we’ll explore those options.

Why Platform Engineering Isn’t Always the Answer

There’s no doubt that platform engineering can create value. But it comes with a price:

  • Upfront investment: Building and maintaining an internal platform requires time, specialized talent, and sustained effort over months or even years.

  • Complexity risk: If the tradeoffs are not managed well, platforms can become bottlenecks or overly rigid.

  • Scalability concerns: Smaller orgs often lack the resources to justify a dedicated platform team.

  • Team pushback: development teams prefer the flexibility to work as they choose and may torpedo standardization efforts without buy-in.

Put simply, what works for a Fortune 100 tech giant may not work for a fast-moving startup or a mid-sized company trying to scale.

Do Developers Actually Need Developer Platforms?

Before diving into alternatives, it’s helpful to revisit the goal: building a healthy software development environment that automates routine tasks and expedites access to an extensive set of development tools. The sought result (KPI) should enable software developers to:

  • Get started quickly (accelerate new team member onboarding)

  • Build and ship software with minimal friction (reduce ticket ops)

  • Work in a secure, stable, and compliant environment (standardize best security practices)

  • Stay focused, productive, and happy (remove rote work, automate common tasks, remove unnecessary approval bottlenecks)

Luckily, these outcomes don’t require a full-blown platform engineering effort.

Alternative Approaches to Platform Engineering

Let’s explore some practical approaches that can get you there faster and with lower upfront and overhead costs.

A. DevOps-First Culture with Lean Tooling

Instead of centralizing everything in a platform team, invest in a strong DevOps culture:

  • Empower teams to own their services from development to deployment.

  • Use lightweight, open-source tools to automate common tasks.

  • Encourage “just enough” standardization to reduce friction, without slowing teams down.

This works best in organizations that value autonomy and have a collaborative culture.

B. Developer Experience (DevEx) Teams

If you want to improve developer productivity without building an internal platform, consider forming a small Developer Experience team.
Their role?

  • Address everyday developer pain points.

  • Provide helpful templates, starter kits, and golden paths.

  • Collect feedback and iterate quickly.

This is a more agile, user-focused alternative to platform engineering, often producing quicker results.

C. Infrastructure-as-Code + Self-Service Templates

For teams already using cloud infrastructure, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Pulumi can be combined with simple self-service interfaces:

  • Developers get autonomy to provision environments.

  • Guardrails ensure security and consistency.

  • GitOps patterns allow safe, trackable changes.

This approach focuses on enabling teams without central control slowing things down.

D. Leverage Cloud-Native PaaS

Public cloud providers offer a wealth of managed services. Instead of reinventing the wheel, consider:

  • Using platforms like Heroku, Google App Engine, or AWS Amplify for fast deployments.

  • Letting internal teams focus on application logic while relying on the cloud to handle infrastructure.

  • Paying for value rather than building and maintaining everything in-house.

This is particularly effective for startups or teams looking to scale quickly without a large operations team.

Choosing the Right Fit for Your Business

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. When deciding how to build or evolve your development environment, ask:

  • What stage is our team in? Early-stage companies often need speed over structure.

  • Where are our bottlenecks? Focus your efforts on real pain points, not hypothetical ones.

  • What’s our appetite for investment? Building internal platforms takes time and talent. Choose alternatives that match your resourcing level.

  • How fast are we growing? If you’re scaling rapidly, you may want to start with simpler solutions and evolve as needed.

Remember: The goal is to enable your developers to build great software efficiently and securely.

Final Thoughts

Platform engineering has its place. But it’s not the only way to create a high-performing development environment. Treat it as a practice.

In many cases, a thoughtful combination of DevOps culture, smart tooling, self-service, and cloud-native services can deliver the same (or better) results, without the heavy lift.

Start small, focus on outcomes, and evolve based on what your developers actually need. That’s the sustainable path to developer enablement.

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