Platform engineers oversee all phases of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) related to databases. Yet, they often lack the necessary tools, processes, and mindset to fully empower their teams. Let’s explore what’s missing and how we can transform our organizations to accelerate progress.
Shift-left with Right Tools
Platform engineers aim to "shift left" by moving tasks earlier in the development pipeline to empower their teams and developers. This approach emphasizes early-stage testing rather than waiting until the final stages, recognizing that late-stage testing often results in significant challenges. When testing is delayed, it is often rushed due to time or resource constraints, leading to superficial testing that overlooks edge cases. Furthermore, issues identified late in the process are more expensive to resolve, as much of the implementation is already complete and has moved through the pipeline.
To succeed, developers need tools that enable independent work with databases. These tools should provide clear visibility into database states, offer meaningful metrics, and deliver actionable insights into database internals. Additionally, they must integrate seamlessly with developers' environments, including CI/CD pipelines, IDEs, and other essential development tools. Developers should be equipped to build and manage databases with the same efficiency and simplicity as they handle their applications.
Currently, platform engineers lack such tools. Databases remain siloed under the domain of DBAs, often inaccessible and opaque to developers. To break down these barriers, platform engineers need robust database guardrails that bridge the gap and transform how databases are managed and utilized.
Understand Everything
Another challenge lies in monitoring and raw data points. Many monitoring platforms overwhelm users with data rather than delivering meaningful understanding. Developers strive to deeply comprehend how their applications operate, relying on tools like debuggers, profilers, tracers, and monitors to analyze interactions among architectural components and their impact on performance. However, most monitoring solutions prioritize quantity over clarity, aggregating hundreds or thousands of metrics into dashboards that display everything at once. This information overload makes it difficult for developers to extract valuable insights.
Developers frequently find themselves navigating a flood of automated metrics spanning infrastructure, operating systems, runtimes, networks, and other operational domains. Yet, when issues arise, these metrics often fail to provide the context needed to effectively diagnose and resolve problems.
What developers truly need are tools that deliver a complete understanding of events. Instead of merely reporting a CPU spike, these tools should explain why it happened and recommend actionable next steps. Many existing monitoring solutions stop at collecting and displaying data points, leaving developers without the explanations or guidance necessary to address issues.
Currently, platform engineers lack access to such solutions. Database guardrails offer an ideal answer to this problem, providing the insights and context developers need to take informed action.
Avoid Lengthy Processes
Finally, platform engineers must enable teams to address their own issues through self-service. Developers cannot afford delays caused by waiting for input or manual responses from other teams. Automation is the key, giving developers direct control over processes and empowering them to resolve issues independently through self-service platforms. This eliminates the dependency on manual intervention from other teams.
The push for automation is no longer optional—it’s a necessity for the entire industry. Manual processes, such as registration forms, onboarding spreadsheets, and other labor-intensive tasks, are no longer sustainable. Developers need automated tools that allow them to configure and optimize their databases independently, accelerating development cycles and reducing Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR).
This transformation becomes seamless when developers have access to tools that provide the information and capabilities they need. Database guardrails empower developers to take full control of their databases. Platform engineers simply need to deploy these solutions and allow developers to leverage them effectively.
Database Guardrails to the Rescue
All the challenges outlined above can be addressed with database guardrails. These tools enable developers to troubleshoot issues early in the development process, provide robust observability for production databases, and empower teams to work independently. Platform engineers can leverage database guardrails to transform their organizations and unlock their teams' full potential.
Metis leads the way in the database guardrails and Observability 2.0 movement. With Metis, you can supercharge your organization and drive innovation today.
