API governance vs developer autonomy – how can platform engineering strike the right balance?

Platform engineering seeks to balance API governance with developer autonomy, offering a middle ground between DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) by enabling scalable, sustainable operations without stifling innovation. The 2025 LEAP 2.0 API governance conference discussed these dynamics, highlighting the challenges of excessive developer autonomy, such as increased cognitive load and tool sprawl, and the need for robust governance frameworks to mitigate these issues. Panelists, including Tyk’s Sedky Haider and Syntasso’s Abby Bangser, emphasized the importance of automated governance tools that integrate into developers' workflows, providing real-time feedback and ensuring compliance with security and regulatory standards. Different governance models, whether centralized or federated, should be chosen based on organizational size and regulatory requirements, with a centralized platform team often supporting a federated approach to accommodate diverse team needs. Managing multiple API vendors requires understanding the organization's current landscape and assessing whether consolidation or a mixed vendor approach best serves operational efficiency and cost reduction, with platforms like Tyk offering solutions to abstract complexities and streamline governance across varied configurations.