Understanding Domains in an Engineering Context

Now that we have established the fundamental principles of platform engineering in Chapter 1 , it is time for us to focus on the other key component of DDPE—domain centricity—before we start putting these concepts together in Chapter 3 . As we had briefly alluded to in Chapter 1 , one of the biggest misunderstandings you can expect as you go deeper into this topic is the constant tug-of-war on what exactly is a domain in this context. The context of the domain is often misunderstood between domains of an engineering platform and domain-driven platform engineering. The domains of an engineering platform are the eight we discussed in Chapter 1 . These are the components that define an engineering platform. On the other hand, domain-driven platform engineering is the practice of applying core platform engineering principles (reducing cognitive load, improving abstraction, software-defined everything, self-serve, composability, observability, and automated governance) to your business domains. The business domains are simply the type of industry you sell your primary product in.