The Choice That Defined Our Platform’s Maturity
Article summary
We didn’t start by asking whether to build or buy. We started by asking what would break if we waited. We were designing identity for our cloud platform. It needed to support internal services, partner APIs, mobile clients, and future product tiers. We wanted speed. We wanted flexibility. We wanted to own our destiny. But architecture isn’t just about ownership. It’s about consequence. And in December 2020, that meant asking a hard question: Should we build our own cloud-native authentication platform or integrate something that already works? The Strategic Tension: Differentiation vs Leverage Our ideal was control. Granular policies, workload identities, real-time session awareness. We mapped out a beautiful system with clean layers, minimal surface area, and cloud-aligned practices. Our reality was fragmentation. Different teams rolled their own token logic.
Read Full Article on MediumPractical takeaway
The main idea behind The Choice That Defined Our Platform’s Maturity is to help teams move from broad theory to clear, repeatable decision making. When teams apply this thinking, they reduce ambiguity and focus on improvements that deliver measurable momentum.
Example scenario
Imagine a team facing competing priorities. By applying the ideas in The Choice That Defined Our Platform’s Maturity, they can map dependencies, identify risks and choose the next move that produces progress without destabilizing their system.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to redesign everything instead of taking small steps.
- Ignoring real constraints like incentives, ownership or legacy systems.
- Creating documents that do not lead to any change in code or decisions.
How to apply this in real work
Start by identifying where The Choice That Defined Our Platform’s Maturity already shows up in your architecture or delivery flow. Then pick one area where clarity would reduce friction. Apply the idea, measure its effect and share the learning.
Signs you are doing it correctly
- Teams make decisions faster and with fewer disagreements.
- Architectural conversations become clearer and less abstract.
- Changes land safely with fewer surprises or rework cycles.