Outshift by Cisco has taken a bold step forward within the continually changing world of software development and operations. Recognizing the need to stay ahead of the curve, we strategically transitioned our operating model from site reliability engineering (SRE) to platform engineering. The move is not just about keeping pace with industry trends; it's about setting the stage for unprecedented innovation and scalability while improving team health and productivity. 

The decision to shift from SRE to platform engineering was not made lightly. At its core, platform engineering is about fostering an environment where innovation thrives and productivity soars. By adopting a "platform as a product" mindset, we are redefining how our teams interact with the infrastructure and tools that power our applications.  

Outshift has always been proactive in its approach to industry trends. With platform engineering, we are positioning ourselves at the forefront of a movement that is predicted to define the future of tech companies. Industry analysts like Gartner have highlighted the growing importance of platform engineering in maintaining a competitive edge, stating that by 2026, the majority of software engineering organizations will adopt platform engineering. However, they also foresee that most organizations may not realize its full value. 

The approach is about providing tooling capabilities that offer significant productivity gains and guardrails, making it easier to collaborate more effectively and see improvements across the board.

A guiding policy and team alignment

By definition, a platform engineering team is a bottleneck. Without the proper strategy and alignment, it can lead to failure or subpar results. Therefore, a clear and concise guiding policy, as described in Richard Rumelt's, "Good Strategy/Bad Strategy," is the backbone of our decision-making process at Outshift.

This helps us all to be on the same page, with the same information, to make the best decision at any given time. We liken our team alignment to birds flying in a V formation, where each member contributes to the group's efficiency and direction. In a V formation of 25 members, each bird can achieve a reduction of induced drag and as a result increase their range by 71% while using less than 20 to 30% of their energy.

The new process and the improvements integrated recently to the way we work gives me the chance to focus more on platform features and keeps me motivated by enjoying my to-do list every day. I no longer have to constantly switch between unplanned tasks. 

– Marwa Ouled El Hadj Ali, Sr. SRE Engineer

This alignment ensures that everyone on the team is pulling in the same direction in a self-sufficient manner where they are empowered to make decisions consistent with the guiding policy and to innovate.

Empowering our teams to embrace the platform as a product approach

Our journey began with DevOps, evolved into SRE, and has now culminated in platform engineering. While SRE brought us many successes, it also came with challenges such as burnout and operational bottlenecks as it was difficult to predict what any given day might look like in a high-stress environment. Now we have the structure in place to handle high-context switching work with a service desk and a sprint-based approach to tackle planned engineering work.

Through this shift, we were able to fundamentally increase team members' quality of life by ensuring more predictability. Our team now knows what days they will be handling support-related work vs. the days when they will be concentrating on innovation. Along with a deeper layer of team rituals, this has been an incredible success for helping to prevent team burnout.

We have significantly reduced our workload and SRE burnout by providing developers with self-service tools and platform solutions which also leads to a better Developer Experience. 

– Hana Khoury, SRE Engineer

The team can engage in more focused work, leading to increased productivity, greater automation, and higher job satisfaction as we continue to make progress towards a platform as a product approach.

Platform engineering as a product  

Platform engineering guides us through the complexities of modern software delivery. It emphasizes self-service tooling and automation, enabling our developers to focus on what they do best: building great products.

At Outshift, our team is on a mission to empower and accelerate development across all our ventures. We are building a user-friendly, competitive, cloud native, development toolchain that not only meets, but exceeds, the expectations of our developers.  

We're focusing on two internal products: one for developer coding experience and another for cloud delivery. This product mindset helps us streamline our services and ensures that we can successfully transition ventures from incubation to scale.

Project focus, and overall outcomes have greatly improved following the adoption of service desk. 

– Matt Shooshtari, SRE Technical Leader

We treat our platform engineering work as internal products, with a strong focus on the developer experience and seamless cloud delivery. This strategy opens the door to potential partnerships within the rich cloud native ecosystem, further enhancing our capabilities.

The future of platform engineering at Outshift 

Looking ahead, our team is poised to champion operational excellence. We are committed to making successful transitions from accelerator to scale-up, and we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.

Outshift's transition to platform engineering is a testament to our commitment to innovation, productivity, and industry leadership. As we continue to evolve, we eagerly anticipate future developments that will shape our journey and drive growth.  

Follow Outshift's journey and apply the insights from our transition to your own organizations as we build the future of software development and operations. Learn more about what Outshift by Cisco is all about.