Fostering developer autonomy: Culture-driven platform engineering

In today’s tech landscape, platforms fail when they ignore engineering culture. Drawing from over 30 years leading engineering teams at Temporal, HashiCorp, Yahoo!, and Oracle, Somal shares how cultural considerations should drive platform design. This talk explores the often-overlooked human side of platform engineering, beyond tools and technology. Somal reveals practical strategies for fostering a culture where platforms enhance developer autonomy rather than restrict it. She discusses how to balance standardization with flexibility, measure platform success through developer happiness, and create feedback loops that continuously improve the developer experience. Learn how to build platforms that engineers truly want to use, boosting productivity and innovation across your organization. Learn more: https://platformcon.com/sessions/fostering-developer-autonomy-culture-driven-platform-engineering