- Trying to solve every possible use case
- Creating a monolithic platform that's difficult to maintain
- Ignoring the "thinnest viable platform" principle
Strategy & Product Thinking Gaps
- Building custom solutions when good commercial or mature OSS options exist
- Not investing enough in integration and user experience
- Creating vendor lock-in without clear benefits
- Treating the platform as a cost center rather than a product
- Not measuring and optimizing for developer experience
- Insufficient investment in documentation and support
- Not capturing the ROI of the platform
Over-Engineering
- Building complex solutions for simple problems
- Creating too many options that overwhelm users
- Optimizing for edge cases at the expense of common use cases
Developer Experience Gaps
- Focusing only on functionality without considering usability
- Poor error messages and debugging experiences
- Inconsistent interfaces across different platform components
- Assuming self-service means no documentation needed
- Technical documentation that doesn't match user mental models
- Missing examples and common troubleshooting scenarios
Cognitive Load Pitfalls
- Tool proliferation: Adding new tools without removing old ones
- Inconsistent abstractions: Different mental models for similar concepts
- Over-configuration: Requiring teams to make too many technical decisions
- Over-abstraction: Hiding so much complexity that debugging becomes impossible
- Rigid constraints: Preventing teams from handling legitimate edge cases
- Magic behavior: Platform actions that are not transparent or predictable
Technology-First Thinking
- Solution looking for problem: Building features without clear user need
- Technology bias: Choosing tools based on team preferences rather than user needs
- Feature creep: Adding capabilities without considering maintenance burden
Insufficient User Focus
- Assumption-driven development: Building based on what platform team thinks users need
- Lack of user research: Not investing in understanding actual user workflows
- Poor feedback loops: No systematic way to collect and act on user input
- Ivory tower syndrome: Platform team disconnected from day-to-day developer experience
Operational Neglect
- Launch and abandon: Not investing in ongoing support and evolution
- No SLOs: Lack of clear commitments to platform reliability and performance
- Reactive support: Only addressing issues after they become critical