DevOpsDays LA - Platform Engineers are Product Managers.pdf

Platform engineering is the foundation of modern software development, equipping teams with the tools and workflows they need to move faster. However, to truly drive impact, platform engineers must think like product managers—leveraging productivity metrics to guide decisions, prioritize investments, and measure success. By applying a data-driven approach, platform teams can optimize developer experience, streamline workflows, and demonstrate tangible ROI on platform initiatives.

In this 15-minute session, Justin Reock, Deputy CTO at DX (getdx.com), will explore how platform engineers can use key developer productivity metrics—such as cycle time, deployment frequency, and developer satisfaction—to manage their platform as an internal product. By treating the platform with the same rigor as an external product launch, teams can accelerate adoption, improve efficiency, and create a frictionless developer experience.

Join us to learn how adopting a metrics-driven, product management mindset can transform your platform engineering efforts into a strategic, high-impact function that unlocks engineering velocity and business success.

1. Platform Engineers are Product Managers
10x Your Developer Experience

2. Justin Reock
Deputy CTO, DX

Justin Reock is the Deputy CTO of DX (getdx.com),
and is an engineer, speaker, writer, and software
practice evangelist with over 20 years of
experience working in various software roles.
LinkedIn

3. Slides, Recording, and LinkedIn Contact Info
https://getdx.com/talk/devopsdaysla-2025/

5. The Problem Statement

6. JIT Mftg
Business
Process
Re-engineering
Change
Mgmt
Agile
Lean
DevOps
Platform
Engineering
…?
But, where’s the “Dev”?
Oh, there’s the “Dev!”
1970+ 1980+ 1990+ 2000+ 2010+ 2020+

8. Platform-as-a-Product

•Think of providing the platform
as a product

•Treat users as you would treat
your customers

•Don’t compromise on this,
provide the same priority

9. Product Strategy Prioritizing Features Evaluating Feedback
Defining Releases Roadmaps
Reporting

10. Iterative Development

•Solve specific needs and iterate

•Gather feedback from real-world
usage

•Take an Agile approach and
release frequently

•Store config in SCM, and
automate the release pipeline

11. Management Responsibilities

•Anticipate the needs of your users and
address foundational issues

•Gather system metrics as well as
qualitative feedback

•Take responsibility for user experience

12. Measuring Success

•Engineering Intelligence metrics

•Core 4 Framework

•Adoption and onboarding
percentages

•Developer Productivity and
DevEx

15. DevOps, DORA, etc, have still not captured all bottlenecks,
friction, and obstacles to throughput

16. DevOps, DORA, etc, have still not captured all bottlenecks,
friction, and obstacles to throughput

Many are hiding in plain sight, in the developer experience itself

17. DevOps, DORA, etc, have still not captured all bottlenecks,
friction, and obstacles to throughput

Many are hiding in plain sight, in the developer experience itself

A 10x organization should consider every aspect of the developer
value stream, internal and external

22. Most Organizations Aren’t Aligned
In a study dated April 27, 2022, between Microsoft and the University of
Victoria in British Columbia, Developers and Managers were surveyed on their
interpretation of the SPACE framework

23. When surveyed with the following questions,
Developers and Managers answered much
differently
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2111.04302.pdf

When thinking about your
work, how do you define
productivity?
Developers Managers
When thinking about your
team, how do you define
productivity?

24. No one knows more about
the friction in the software
development lifecycle
than developers.

25. So what if we just asked developers…

26. Quantitative Metric Qualitative Metric
PR Cycle Time I work on small, iterative changes:

Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very Often
Always
Commit Frequency I have uninterrupted time for deep work:

Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very Often
Always
Time To First Review I receive code reviews in a timely manner:

Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very Often
Always

27. Quantitative
Metrics
●Easy to measure
●Objective
●Incomplete
●Lack Context
Qualitative
Metrics
●Comprehensive
●Tells you “why”
●Difficult (design,
participation)
●High cost to
execute
Pros Cons

28. https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3595878

29. The DevEx Metrics

31. S
Satisfaction
P
Performance
A
Activity
C
Collaboration
E
Efficiency
DF
Deployment Frequency
LTFC
Lead Time for Changes
MTTR
Mean Time to Resolve
CFR
Change Failure Rate
FS
Flow State
FL
Feedback Loops

CL
Cognitive Load

32. The DX Core 4 - DORA, SPACE, and DevEx

34. The DX Core 4 - DORA, SPACE, and DevEx

35. Each one-point gain in DXI score translates to
saving 13 minutes per week per developer,
equivalent to 10 hours annually.

36. Each one-point gain in DXI score translates to
saving 13 minutes per week per developer,
equivalent to 10 hours annually.
… and yes, the math proof is available. :)

38. Knowing how to measure productivity
or even define developer productivity
has remained elusive.

39. Knowing how to measure productivity
or even define developer productivity
has remained elusive.

The Core 4 is the best possible way
available to do it.

40. Slides, Recording, and LinkedIn Contact Info
https://getdx.com/talk/devopsdaysla-2025/