GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech Platform Engineering • Ajay Chankramath & Nic Cheneweth
Mar 31, 2026
Nic Cheneweth, ThoughtWorks principal technologist and platform control-plane expert, and Ajay Chankramath, founder of Platformetrics and platform strategy lead, discuss platform engineering. They cover treating internal platforms like products. They explain control planes, API-first design, Kubernetes as a foundation, Backstage pitfalls, and how AI and agents are shaping platform work.
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Internal Platforms Require A Product Mindset
- Internal platforms need a product mindset to yield long-term productivity and sustainability rather than just the quickest path.
- Nic Cheneweth notes companies often never developed product muscles for internal users and must invest upfront to get big rewards.
Combine Golden Paths With API-First Control Planes
- Golden paths plus an API-first control plane let developers self-serve while preserving extensibility for special cases.
- Ajay Chankramath and Nic explain control planes wrap cloud APIs with conventions so users can both follow standards or go direct when needed.
Leverage Kubernetes As Your Control Plane Foundation
- Use Kubernetes as the extensible reconciliation engine instead of rebuilding control loops from scratch.
- Nic advises leveraging Kubernetes' community-tested control loop and extensibility to gain resilience and save engineering cost.
