Building Better Platforms with Dapr: Abstractions, Portability, and Durable Systems with Mark Fussell
Cloud lock-in isn't just about where your data lives—it's about how deeply cloud-specific code permeates your applications. Mark Fussell, co-creator of Dapr and CEO of Diagrid, joins Cory O'Daniel to explore how Dapr provides clean abstractions for common distributed system patterns, enabling teams to build portable applications without sacrificing cloud-native capabilities.The conversation covers:How Dapr creates a clean separation between application code and underlying infrastructure services like messaging, state management, and secretsWhy platform teams struggle with tight coupling between applications and infrastructure, and how Dapr solves this problemThe benefits of Dapr's sidecar architecture for local development, testing, and production environmentsHow Dapr automatically handles cross-cutting concerns like security, observability, and resiliency without boilerplate codeIntroduction to Dapr's workflow engine for durable execution and the emerging world of stateful AI agentsWhether you're a platform engineer struggling with cloud lock-in or a developer tired of rewriting code for different infrastructures, this conversation demonstrates how Dapr can simplify your distributed systems while maintaining access to the unique capabilities of each cloud provider.Guest: Mark Fussell, Co-founder of Dapr and CEO of DiagridMark Fussell is the CEO of Diagrid, a cutting-edge company that simplifies building and scaling cloud-native applications. As the co-founder of Dapr (Distributed Application Runtime), Mark has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of modern application development by empowering developers to build resilient, distributed systems with ease. With decades of experience in the software industry, Mark has been a driving force behind innovative solutions that bridge the gap between developers and complex infrastructure.DiagridDaprLinks to interesting things from this episode:"XML Bible" by Elliotte Rusty HaroldOpenTelemetrySPIFFEDataGalaxy case studyCloud Native Computing Foundation
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What CVEs Did for Security, CREs Are Doing for Reliability
Did you know that software engineers often "learn things the hard way" because they lack a standardized system to share knowledge about reliability issues? While security professionals have CVEs to catalog vulnerabilities, reliability engineers have been left to reinvent the wheel with each new bug or outage.Tony Meehan, co-founder and CTO of Prequel, introduces us to Common Reliability Enumerations (CREs) - an open-source approach that's doing for reliability what CVEs did for security. After spending a decade at the NSA hunting vulnerabilities, Tony recognized that the same community-driven approach could revolutionize how we handle reliability issues.This conversation covers:How CREs help developers detect and mitigate reliability issues before they cause outagesThe open-source tools Preq and CRE that allow teams to leverage community knowledgePractical ways to implement these tools in your development workflow (locally, in CI/CD, and production)How this approach can reduce cloud costs by identifying issues rather than over-provisioningTips for debugging mysterious production issues when no CRE exists yetGuest: Tony Meehan, CTO at PrequelTony is an engineering leader obsessed with bugs. He dedicated a decade to vulnerability and exploit development at the National Security Agency (NSA) before leading Engineering at Endgame and Elastic. In 2023, Tony co-founded Prequel to change the way application failure is detected and resolved. Tony Meehan, Xprequel.devgithub.com/prequel-devPrequel, XLinks to interesting things from this episode:Blog post about the partial outage at EndgameCommon Reliability Enumeration (CRE)PreqXKCD: Standards Episode on security with Danny Allan from SnykBrendan Gregg's blog
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From DevOps to 'Vibe Coding': Gene Kim on AI-Assisted Development and Platform Engineering
What if you could turn a five-year software project into a one-month endeavor? Gene Kim, co-founder of IT Revolution and author of The Phoenix Project, reveals how AI-powered Vibe Coding is transforming the way developers work.Kim shares insights from his upcoming book about how developers are achieving unprecedented productivity, including how his co-author produces 12,000 lines of production-ready code daily using AI assistance. But it's not just about speed - learn how this approach enables developers to tackle previously impossible projects and explore larger design spaces.From DevOps evolution to practical AI implementation, Kim discusses:What Vibe Coding really means and how it differs from traditional developmentReal examples of AI accelerating development without sacrificing qualityCommon pitfalls to avoid when implementing AI in your development workflowHow AI is making developers more ambitious rather than replacing themThe critical role of testing and feedback loops in successful AI implementationWhether you're a seasoned developer or a tech leader wondering about AI's place in your development workflow, this conversation provides practical insights into the future of software development.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share! http://platformengineeringpod.com/
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Snyk’s Danny Allan on Making Security Developer-Friendly
Security often feels like a roadblock to developers, but what if it could be seamlessly integrated into the development process? As software delivery becomes increasingly automated and self-service, the traditional approach to security needs a major overhaul.Danny Allan, CTO at Snyk, shares practical insights on transforming security from a bottleneck into an enabler of developer productivity. Drawing from his extensive experience at IBM, VMware, and Veeam, Allan discusses how security teams can shift left effectively without creating friction.Key topics covered:Building successful security champions programs that cultivate curiosity rather than relying solely on senior developersPractical approaches to embedding security controls into development pipelines, from IDE integration to PR checksStrategies for measuring security team success beyond just vulnerability countsThe role of pre-hardened containers and infrastructure-as-code scanning in platform securityHow AI is transforming both code generation and security tooling, including Snyk's approach to vulnerability detectionLove the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share! http://platformengineeringpod.com/
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vCluster with Lukas Gentele: Rethinking Kubernetes Multi-Tenancy
Are your platform teams constantly saying "no" to requests for new Kubernetes clusters? The traditional approach to Kubernetes multi-tenancy forces organizations to choose between cluster sprawl or restrictive namespaces - neither of which fully meets the needs of modern development teams.Lukas Gentele, CEO and co-founder of Loft Labs, shares how vCluster is transforming the way organizations handle multi-tenancy in Kubernetes. By running virtual Kubernetes control planes inside namespaces, vCluster enables teams to experiment with different versions, operators, and configurations while maintaining efficient resource usage.Key topics covered:How vCluster solves the limitations of namespace-based multi-tenancyRunning multiple Kubernetes versions in the same cluster for testing and gradual upgradesManaging bare metal GPU resources efficiently for AI/ML workloadsBalancing standardization with developer autonomy in platform engineeringUsing virtual clusters for cost-effective testing across multiple Kubernetes versionsWhether you're a platform engineer looking to say "yes" more often or a development team seeking greater autonomy within Kubernetes, this discussion offers practical insights into modern multi-tenancy approaches.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, & share! http://platformengineeringpod.com/
The Platform Engineering Podcast is a show about the real work of building and running internal platforms — hosted by Cory O’Daniel, longtime infrastructure and software engineer, and CEO/cofounder of Massdriver.
Each episode features candid conversations with the engineers, leads, and builders shaping platform engineering today. Topics range from org structure and team ownership to infrastructure design, developer experience, and the tradeoffs behind every “it depends.”
Cory brings two decades of experience building platforms — and now spends his time thinking about how teams scale infrastructure without creating bottlenecks or burning out ops. This podcast isn’t about trends. It’s about how platform engineering actually works inside real companies.
Whether you're deep into Terraform/OpenTofu modules, building golden paths, or just trying to keep your platform from becoming a dumpster fire — you’ll probably find something useful here.
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