Platform leaders ask me every week: "How do we know if we're doing this well?" If you're asking this question, you're not alone - and you need a reality check.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: 29.6% of platform teams don't measure success at all, according to the State of Platform Engineering Report. Another 24.2% measure something but can't tell you if it's improved. That's roughly a 5% gap - teams that think they're measuring but lack actual visibility into their data.
Before you ask "Are we on track?" ask this: Are you even measuring?
Without measurement, you're flying blind. You can't prove ROI, secure investment, or course-correct before failure.
The measurement crisis is real. Nearly 30% of platform teams operate without any success metrics. They can't demonstrate value, justify budgets, or identify what's working (and what isn't).
This creates an existential funding risk. As economic pressures intensify, organizations that can't prove ROI face potential deprecation. Executive patience has limits, and unproven initiatives test those limits quickly. It doesn't matter how successful you think your platform initiative is - if there's nothing to prove it, those feelings are irrelevant.
The gap between teams who don't measure and those who can't demonstrate improvement reveals an even deeper problem. Some teams think they measure but can't answer basic questions: Has developer productivity improved? Has time to market decreased? Are developers actually using the platform? If you're collecting metrics but can't demonstrate improvement, you're measuring the wrong things - or not analyzing the data.
Measurement is the prerequisite for any meaningful assessment. The rest of this article provides a diagnostic framework, but it only works if you commit to tracking outcomes. Start with industry-standard metrics: DORA (40.8% of teams use them), time to market (31.0%), or SPACE metrics (14.1%). Pick one. Implement it this week.
Investment reality check
Are you in the 45.5% with budgets but stuck in reactive mode?
Having a budget doesn't equal strategic positioning. The State of Platform Engineering Report shows that 45.5% of organizations operate dedicated, budgeted teams that remain primarily reactive. They're funded enough to be expected to deliver but not empowered enough to succeed - that's a dangerous middle ground.
Warning signs:
- Funded but not empowered - You have headcount and budget but no authority to make architectural decisions or set standards
- Sub-$1M expectations - 47.4% operate on budgets under $1M while expecting enterprise-grade results. The math doesn't work
- Voluntary assignments - 13.1% still run on unfunded, voluntary assignments
Based on 2024-2025 progression rates, leading organizations are projected to invest $5-10M by 2026. Median platform budgets are expected to double from current sub-$1M levels. If your budget won't grow proportionally, you're not keeping pace with the industry.
Recovery path: Shift from reactive to product-driven investment. Establish clear success metrics, implement feedback loops, and tie platform evolution to business outcomes. Treat the platform as a product with data-driven investment decisions, not a cost center responding to tickets.
Adoption reality check
Are developers using your platform because they want to, or because they have to?
The data splits three ways: 36.6% rely on mandates, 28.2% achieve intrinsic value pull, and 18.3% reach participatory adoption where users contribute back.
Mandates work until they don't. As developer expectations rise, and alternatives proliferate, mandate-driven adoption faces declining effectiveness. Developers will find workarounds, build shadow ops functions, or simply resist until leadership attention shifts elsewhere.
Instead, aim for participatory adoption. Only 18.3% achieve it, but it's your north star - if users aren't invested enough to contribute back, they're not invested enough to stay when something better comes along.
Warning: If you're in the 16.9% with erratic adoption and no coherent strategy, you have a fundamental problem. Fix your value proposition before investing in features.
Recovery path: Focus on genuine developer pain points. Listen to platform customers about what hurts before prescribing fixes. Build golden paths that solve real problems for 80% of common needs, not edge cases that affect 5% of users.
Time-to-value reality check
Platform engineering shows a bimodal split in time-to-value: 35.2% deliver value within six months, while 40.9% can't prove value within a year. There's a meaningful middle group (23.9% delivering in 6-12 months), but the trend is clear - you're either fast, or you're struggling.
The distribution:
- Fast movers (35.2%) - 13.1% deliver value in under 3 months, 22.1% within 3-6 months. They use MVP approaches and iterate quickly
- Middle group (23.9%) - Deliver in 6-12 months, showing progress but at risk of losing momentum
- Slow movers (23.3%) - 15.5% need over a year, 7.1% require more than 2 years
- Critical danger zone (18.3%) - No measurable results at all. These initiatives face substantial risk of deprecation
If your next iteration/MVP is taking months instead of weeks, you're likely doing waterfall with a trendy name. Congrats: that's a red flag, not a plan.
Recovery path: Start small. Define focused golden paths covering 80% of common needs. Deliver something measurable in weeks, not months. Prove value quickly to key stakeholders, then iterate.
Why most platform failures aren't technical
What's blocking your platform? If you answered "technology" or "tools," I can almost guarantee you're wrong.
The top three challenges are cultural and organizational: 45.3% struggle with developer adoption and cultural resistance, 44.3% lack shared vision or product mindset, and 43.9% face complexity in existing systems. Technical challenges don't even lead the list.
Prioritization matters. Cultural resistance affects 45.3% of teams. Insufficient funding affects 31.1%. Fix culture first, then fight for budget. Is this easier said than done? Yes. But the reality is: You can't buy your way out of an adoption problem.
Platform engineering success requires psychological safety, transparency, and trust. Think of these less as soft skills, and more as foundational requirements. Without them, even the best technology fails.
Have a dedicated platform product manager can help. Only 21.6% have them, but this is expected to grow and dedicated PPMs are projected to become standard for organizations serious about platform maturity. They bridge platform engineering and the organization, structure work, and prioritize features based on user needs.
Your next steps: From reality check to action plan
You've completed the reality check. Now what?
Take the five-minute benchmarking survey. The Platform Engineering Maturity Benchmarking Survey scores your platform across investment, adoption, interfaces, operations, and measurement. You'll get a clear maturity score and guidance on where to focus next.
Address skill gaps systematically. 57% cite skill gaps as barriers to AI integration and platform maturity. The Platform Engineering University offers four certification tracks, plus specialized courses on AI, observability, and security.
Download the full data. The State of Platform Engineering Report provides detailed implementation guidance, industry benchmarks, and progression rates across all maturity dimensions.
Treat assessment as continuous improvement. This isn't a one-time evaluation. Platform maturity requires ongoing measurement, iteration, and course correction. The teams that succeed are those that embed assessment into their operating model.
The choice is yours: validate your progress or course-correct before failure. Either way, start with measurement.
Join me on March 3 where we'll dive into how to benchmark your platform, quantify your pain (& solve it)
Frequently asked questions
What if we're measuring but not seeing improvement?
You're probably measuring the wrong things, or not analyzing the data in a way that allows you to make decisions. Focus on DORA metrics as lagging indicators, and leading indicators like developer satisfaction or time saved, and ensure you're tracking trends over time.
How long should an MVP take?
Weeks, not months. If it's taking longer, you're likely doing waterfall. The 35.2% who deliver value within six months prove rapid iteration works. Start small, keep scope limited, and be relentless about staying on-task.
Is a dedicated Platform Product Manager necessary?
Increasingly, yes. Only 21.6% have them now, but this number is expected to rise and the role be become standard.
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