Doing more with less, rather than less with more

Building your platform does not mean you need to invent a bunch of stuff from scratch, or purchase expensive tools.

Rather, it is making better use of what you already have.

Automating your current workflows and deployment.

Reusing the designs and IP you already have.

Increasing the rate of iterations.

Automated testing so that you can deploy with confidence.

Platforms are not rocket science, and you don't need fancy tools to get started.

A checklist can do wonders.

A few shell scripts and a cron job can get you a long ways.

Automation can be written in the languages you are already using on the project.

Building testing and diagnostics into your products rather than needing expensive, external fixtures.

Leverage the CI features built into tools like Github and Gitea.

Platforms are the boring work that clear the path and you give you time and space to do the interesting work that adds value to your products.