Primary cleft palate repair in an infant has profound implications for the rest of that infant’s life. Palate repair should improve feeding, provide the basis for normal speech and language, potentially improve hearing, and, at the same time, minimize the impact on maxillary growth. Palatoplasty therefore impacts later social and psychological well-being. Minimizing surgery on the hard palate gives the best opportunity for unrestrained maxillary growth. Speech and hearing outcomes are determined largely by what is done to the abnormally positioned muscles of the cleft palate. Effective primary surgery minimizes the need for further surgery and reduces the burden of care. No technique produces completely normal outcomes in every case. The cleft palate is abnormally short. The author’s technique aims to compensate for this by placing the cleft musculature more posteriorly than in the normal palate.