Steve Wade, founder of Platform Fix, shared insights from his experience in platform engineering during a recent interview. He often encounters companies facing significant issues during platform migrations, such as delays of 18 months and costs exceeding budgets by millions. Wade's perspective is informed by his own struggles in this area earlier in his career. A major point he raised is the problem of "resume-driven architecture." This occurs when platform teams prioritize flashy tools over practical solutions. He illustrated this with a case involving a fintech company that invested $2.3 million in a complex architecture featuring Kubernetes, Istio, and several other technologies. By the time Wade stepped in, developers were still waiting weeks for deployments, and the platform team was overworked. Wade introduced the "deletion protocol," a framework for simplifying platforms by removing unnecessary components rather than adding more. He believes that success in platform engineering comes from reducing complexity. He also discussed a "complexity score" to measure platform effectiveness, which factors in cognitive load, operational overhead, and team morale. For anyone grappling with platform challenges, Wade's frameworks and experience offer valuable guidance.