How To Use This

To get the most out of the Gruntwork Way, start by making sure you understand the big picture.

The Gruntwork Way Big Picture

First, a developer platform is the product your platform team builds to balance three essential concerns: enabling developers to move fast (velocity), meeting business needs like security, cost, and compliance (governance), and avoiding unsustainable technical debt (maintainability).

To build a successful platform, you need to combine three types of building blocks: patterns (pre-built solutions to common infrastructure problems), platform components (the machinery for deploying and managing infrastructure), and interfaces (how developers interact with your platform).

Finally, everything in this framework is based on the guiding principles we've discovered through years of building and refining developer platforms.

Using the Gruntwork Way

Once you understand these foundational concepts, there are two primary ways to use the Gruntwork Way.

Option 1: Read it comprehensively

You can work through this framework from start to finish to build a complete mental model of developer platforms. This approach works well if you're just getting started or want to strengthen your overall understanding.

Option 2: Use it as a reference

Alternatively, you can jump directly to the sections most relevant to your current challenges. This approach works well once you understand the fundamentals (which you just read above!) and need guidance on a specific aspect of your platform.

Next

Alright, let's dive into the framework that helps you build platforms developers actually want to use!