Platform engineering and the "Dutch approach"

In my experience, the best platforms don’t just emerge from grand strategies or perfectly implemented tools—they’re built when innovation from the ground up meets strategic guidance from the top. At Tech Tribes, we’ve learned that combining these two perspectives is the key to building better software, faster, and creating value for everyone involved.

Imagine a group of developers frustrated by bottlenecks in their workflow. They’re creative and resourceful, finding innovative solutions to get their job done faster. That’s the magic of bottom-up innovation: it’s where real problems meet real creativity. But without coordination, those brilliant fixes can quickly lead to fragmentation—tools that don’t integrate, processes that aren’t scalable, and operational headaches that weigh down the whole organization.

Now imagine an organization driven solely from the top. There’s a clear strategy, well-defined standards, and a polished roadmap, but it’s disconnected from the day-to-day realities of developers. The result? A platform that looks great on paper but fails to meet the needs of the people who use it.

The magic happens when these two forces work together. At Tech Tribes, we empower our Tribes—teams with deep expertise and ownership of their domain—to experiment and innovate. We develop ourselves and we and we understand what’s needed to solve real-world problems. Meanwhile, a clear top-down framework ensures that solutions are aligned with the organization’s broader goals. APIs, orchestration, and infrastructure standards provide the connective tissue that allows these innovations to scale without breaking.

This approach resonates strongly with principles of Rhenish culture (“Rijnlands” in Dutch), which emphasizes collaboration, stakeholder balance, and long-term thinking. Much like how Rhenish organizations focus on serving multiple stakeholders and aligning their efforts for the collective good, platform engineering thrives when innovation from the ground up is harmonized with strategic direction from above. Empowering Tribes—teams with deep expertise and ownership of their domain—to experiment and solve real-world problems ensures practical solutions, while a clear framework of APIs, orchestration, and infrastructure connects these efforts and scales them sustainably.

The results speak for themselves. Developers work faster, operational teams face fewer headaches, and everyone feels like they’re part of the same mission. For me, that’s what platform engineering is all about: creating a system where creativity thrives within a structure designed for success. Not too strict and also not too loose. Comparable to a Rhenish approach. It’s not just about building software faster; it’s about building it better, and doing that together.