Systems Thinking Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Michael Earls

Platform First: Paved Roads, Freedom, and the Cost of Both

By Michael Earls | January 20, 2026

Platform-first cloud architecture showing paved roads with guardrails guiding teams toward scalable and secure cloud platforms

Platforms don’t fail when teams go around them. They fail when the road no longer leads where work needs to go.

Identity First: The Only Control Plane That Survives Every Cloud Decision

By Michael Earls | January 13, 2026

Identity Is Architecture, Not Plumbing

Identity isn’t plumbing — it’s architecture. User, device, and code identity form the only control plane that survives every cloud decision.