How to explain platforms, frameworks, and infrastructures to stakeholders

Technology is full of language that is unfamiliar or misunderstood. All fields have their own terminology, but tech is interesting in that the success of a project often depends on input from stakeholders who are immersed in non-tech fields. Each stakeholder has a unique set of experience, knowledge, and perspectives that will inform their expectations and definitions of success. Technology terms and other industry-specific language should be avoided or defined early in the project. Clear communication is critical to getting the stakeholder buy-in you need.  

Establishing a shared understanding of a project may be an ongoing effort throughout the life of the project. To help you with this effort, you can map the project to its platform, framework, and infrastructure.

Why platforms, frameworks, and infrastructures?  

Technology projects always impact a platform, framework, infrastructure, or some combination of the three. The project leads probably understand these concepts intuitively. For example, you already know that you cannot deploy a solution to an unsupported infrastructure. You know that your project solution must follow best practices and remain in compliance.

The stakeholders and decision-makers may need you to explain certain decisions, especially if there is a process change that appears to make things more difficult. Why do they need to install an authentication app? Why can’t they connect their personal smartphone to the business network? Mapping your project to platforms, frameworks, and infrastructures can help you answer questions and manage expectations.

Breaking it down

Let’s start with an explanation of the terms. A platform is the foundation of a solution.  There are many types of platforms.

Platforms normally include tools and services used to customize and manage the deployment.

Frameworks provide us with guidelines and best practices. These frameworks are models that standardize the construction and management of computer networks and other technologies. 

There are application development frameworks like Django and Angular, which are outside of the scope of this post. Regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are also considered frameworks because they establish a set of rules and guidelines to protect sensitive information. The OWASP Top 10 is defined by the authors as an awareness document, but many security teams use it as a framework to guide their security strategies.

The infrastructure is the underlying technology and resources needed to run your project or application when it goes into production. It includes the facilities, systems, and other physical and virtual components that support the operation.

The infrastructure and platform must work together properly, and both must meet the standards of the relevant frameworks. Mapping your project requirements to these concepts can help you answer questions, justify purchase requests, and find potential trouble spots that you may have overlooked.   

Putting it back together

Now that we’re clear on these concepts, let’s see how this exercise works with a few example projects.

Even an oversimplified breakdown like this can help you communicate project requirements to stakeholders and decision-makers. You can decide how exhaustive you need to be with this exercise, though I’d recommend making sure you get all the high-level pieces and required frameworks in place. At the very least you’ll want to map the things that will cost money and/or change the user experience.

Stakeholder communication isn’t the only reason to use this exercise. This kind of breakdown can improve your own understanding of a project and help you brainstorm solutions. It can also help you identify how a solution could be impacted by a change request.

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