[KCD UK] From Greenfield Dreams to Brownfield Realities: Navigating Platform Development

In the world of platform engineering, we often dream of greenfield projects—a fresh start, a blank canvas. But reality has a different palette. Most platforms emerge from existing systems, inheriting their quirks, constraints, and complexities. Welcome to the brownfield!

Join Cat as she explores the psychology behind our attachment to the familiar. Why do we cling to legacy code, outdated tools, and well-worn paths? How can we harness this psychology to build robust, usable platforms? In this talk, Cat shares practical strategies for thriving in the brownfield, turning existing foundations into powerful platforms.

Transcript

1. From Greenfield Dreams to Brownfield Realities: Navigating Platform Development Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com Cat Morris Product Manager at Syntasso, the creators of Kratix
3. https://xkcd.com/927/
5. Platforms are Brownfield
6. “Brownfield development … describe[s] problem spaces needing the development and deployment of new software systems in the immediate presence of existing (legacy) software applications/systems.” Wikipedia
7. Platforms are Emergent
8. For Platforms, the way we think about MVPs needs to change
14. Uh oh…
16. … So what can we use instead?
17. … So what can we use instead? Waterfall??
18. … So what can we use instead? Waterfall??
19. Time to butcher some Sciences 1. Prospect Theory 2. Endowment Effect 3. Trust Repair
20. Kahneman & Tversky Prospect theory suggests that when faced with a risky choice leading to gains people are risk averse, preferring the certain outcome with a lower expected utility. Wikipedia
21. People will accept the lesser, but certain experience of their existing processes over the uncertainty of your new Platform.
23. A user can complete one job from beginning to end
25. Build a sense of ownership of the new platform
30. It has been proposed that “Repaired” trust is structurally different from previolation “pristine” trust and that no trust repair initiatives may ever fully restore trust to its original level
32. Don’t break your users’ trust
34. 1. Focus on the jobs to be done
35. 1. Focus on the jobs to be done 2. Build a sense of ownership of the new platform
36. 1. Focus on the jobs to be done 2. Build a sense of ownership of the new platform 3. Don’t break users trust
38. Thank you! cat@syntasso.io • www.linkedin.com/in/catmo/ kratix.io