Platform engineering is an emerging discipline focused on enhancing developer productivity by reducing the complexity and uncertainty of modern software delivery. It is the process of designing and building Internal Developer Platforms, toolchains, and workflows that enable self-service capabilities for software engineering organizations. Platform engineering teams automate infrastructure management and enable developers to self-serve reliable tools and workflows from a centrally managed technology platform. The goal of platform engineering is to enhance developer productivity, encourage consistency and efficiency, and accelerate product teams delivery of customer value.

Key features of platform engineering include:

• Internal Developer Platforms: Platform engineers provide an integrated product most often referred to as an "Internal Developer Platform" covering the operational necessities of the entire software delivery process.

• Self-Service Capabilities: Platform engineering improves developer experience and productivity by providing self-service capabilities with automated infrastructure operations.

• Standardizing and Securing Key Delivery Processes: Platform engineering teams show up in four key areas, including building internal developer platforms, standardizing and securing key delivery processes, automating infrastructure management, and enabling developers to self-serve reliable tools and workflows from a centrally managed technology platform.

Platform engineering is an important evolution in cloud-native software delivery, particularly for digital transformation. It is trending because of its promise to optimize the developer experience and accelerate product teams delivery of customer value. By leveraging Infrastructure as Code and other techniques and tools, platform engineers can reduce the toil of software development, allowing engineers to get their code to production quicker than ever before.